State and Government in Ancient India c8.s2.25

c8.s2.25

There is a great controversy about the date of the *Arthaśāstra*. Messrs. Shamasastri, Ganapatishastri, N. N. Law, Smith, Fleet and Jayaswal hold that the work proceeds from the pen of of the famous minister of Chandragupta Maurya, while Messrs. Winternitz, Jolly, Keith and D. R. Bhandarkar hold that the work is a much later one, written in the early centuries of the Christian era.¹ Conclusive evidence supporting either view is lacking and the question has become complicated owing to the work being occasionally retouched in later times. The second school points out that if the book was really written by Kauṭilya, the Mauryan premier, it is strange that it should not contain some references to the Mauryan empire and its administrative machinery, so well known to us from Greek sources. It ignores the boards of town officials, and lays down no rules for the care of foreigners, for escorting them to the border and looking after their effects if deceased. The fact that the views of Kauṭilya himself are quoted in the 3rd person would suggest that the real writer of the work was different from him.