Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s13.t6: Arthaśāstra

c12.s13.t6.1

The entire Mauryan age is dominated by two remarkable records, one of literature and the other of epigraphy, viz. the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya and the edicts of Aśoka. It is needless to add anything here on the Arthaśāstra which has received full treatment in the historical sections. It is enough to point out that Kauṭilya refers to his own work as a critical compendium based on the Arthaśāstras, prevalent at his time, and that he refers to works of nearly a dozen writers, Bhāradvāja (Kaṇiṅka), Viśālākshā (Śiva), Parāśara, Piśuna (Nārada), Kauṇapadanta (Bhishma), Vātavyādhi (Uddhava), Bāhudantiputra (Indra), the Mānavas, the Bārhaspatyas, Auśanasas and Āmbhiyas. This active exercise of thought on polity, echoes of which are to be heard in the epic Mahābhārata, might well have been occasioned by the intense political activity of the times which were full of Saṅghas of different description and numerous small monarchies. That leaders of thought such as the Brahmans took a leading part in the political life of the country is shown by the evidence of Greek writers like Plutarch who say that the philosophers gave Alexander no less trouble than the mercenaries by reviling the princes who declared for him and encouraged the free states to revolt from his authority. The mercenaries referred to by the Greek writers were the Āyudhajivi Kshatriya Saṅghas, just as the robbers referred to by them were the Āraṭṭas (Arāṣṭras) or republicans. The genius of Chandragupta and Chāṇakya saw the danger of these numerous small free states, communities and kingships, and not only consolidated an empire and a centralised power but also set forth the scheme of the detailed working of such a huge centralised authority in a new *Arthaśāstra*.