Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c8.4

c8.4

together they organised one of the most powerful and efficient bureaucracies known to the history of the world. Kshatra (Imperium) and Brahma (Sacerdotium) came together and engaged in the most fruitful cooperation for the great good of the land and the people. The *Arthaśāstra* of Kauṭilya (Cāṇakya) holds a place in the literature of Indian polity corresponding to that of the Mauryan empire in Indian history; there are two sides to both. The Mauryan empire was the culmination of a long centripetal development of which Magadha had become the nucleus for centuries; but its administrative system made new and bold departures from ancient practices and started innovations inspired by alien models, perhaps immediately Hellenistic, but traceable ultimately to Achaemenid Persia. Likewise, the *Arthaśāstra* is the culmination of the Indian political thought of several generations on the one side, while on the other, large sections of it were consciously based on the study of political practice, a good part of it doubtless contemporary and foreign.