State and Government in Ancient India c8.s2.54

c8.s2.54

Widely divergent views are held about the date of the *Śukranīti*. G. Oppert placed it even in the pre-Christian period; Dr. U. N Ghosal thinks that the work was written between 1200 and 1600 A. D. and the view of R. L. Mitra was similar. The fact is that the work is a composite one and was being retouched down to the 14th century; but its greater part has to be ascribed to the 11th or the 12th century A. D.. The statement that the Mlechchhas resided in the north-west of India, the reference to Sāmantas as both feudatories and officials, (I. 189), the information that the price of gold was 16 times that of silver (IV. 2. 92), as stated by Bhāskarāchārya, the inclusion of Deśabhāshās (vernaculars) as topics of study (IV. 3. 30), the reference to the Advaita Vedānta doctrine of Śaṅkara (IV. 3. 50), the injunction that peace should be made even with an Anārya, because otherwise he may uproot the kingdom (IV. 7. 243), the enunciation of the principle that the treasury should have a reserve equal to 20 years revenue (IV. 2. 23), which was obviously followed by Hindu kings of the 11th century as shown by the accounts of the plunder obtained from their treasuries by Muslim conquerors,—all these tend to show that the book as a whole belongs to the period between 900 and 1200. The verses dealing with firearms and gunpowder (IV. 7. 195-213; I. 231; II. 95 and 195) may have been added by the end of the 14th century, when gunpowder is known to have been used by the army of Vijayanagar.¹