Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s6.6

c11.s6.6

in the *Arthaśāstra*, clearly mark an attempt to evolve a new norm in civil law in the establishment of which the royal authority would be actively exerted both directly by the king himself, and indirectly by the judgements and rulings of the higher officials of state delivered in the name of the king. The same feature obtained in all the contemporary Hellenistic monarchies, and it is by no means unlikely that Kauṭilya was influenced by contemporary foreign practice when he put forward this new principle in his work.