Public Administration in Ancient India c4.41

c4.41

The author of the Arthaśāstra ¹ says in his Preface to the book that it is founded on all the ancient books written on the subject by the ancient teachers, and in the body of the work he criticises the views of many political theorists, such as Usanas, Brihaspati, Bharadvāja, Parāsara, Visālāksha, and Pisuna, and of the schools founded by these teachers. The names of these teachers and of some others also occur in the Mahābhārata. But at present we know nothing of their writings beyond what is contained in the Smritis. It is not improbable, however, that some of their works will be discovered in future and will add considerably to our knowledge of the polity of Ancient India.² Of political works now known to us besides the Arthasāstra, the most notable are the Nītisāra of Kāmandaki, the Nītivākyāmrita of Somadeva Sūri, and the Nītisāra which is attributed to Sukrāchārya.¹ All these works seem to have been based, to a greater or less extent, on the Arthasāstra. The Kāmandaki-nīti was probably composed in the third or fourth century A.D., and may be regarded as a metrical version of certain portions of the Arthasāstra. The Nītivākyāmrita also, like the Kāmandaki, closely follows the Kautiliya in its treatment of political topics. It appears to have been composed in the tenth century.² In the Sukranīti are to be found passages which occur in the Kāmandaki, but it also contains matter which is not to be found in the earlier books. The date of compilation of the bulk of the book may be placed in the ninth or tenth century after Christ, but some portions are evidently more modern.³ Mention may also be made of a few other books of comparatively recent dates, which, though not important in themselves, show the continuity of the political system of the Hindus.