The Mauryan Polity c12.25

c12.25

There is no need to call attention to these special passages. But a reference may be made to a statement of Dr. Jolly himself who remarks that Kauṭalya must have been "an official in a state of medium size where he had obtained insight into the working of the administration."¹ This means that the German scholar is prepared to grant that Kauṭalya possessed an intimate or first hand knowledge as regards the different methods of working an administration. If it could be conceded that he was an official, it strengthens the position which we have taken that he was more than a mere Pandit. Tradition affirms that he was an official of much more importance, viz., the Chief Minister. No purpose is served by denying a fact, and the fact was that Kauṭalya was the Chancellor of Candragupta. E. H. Johnston remarks: "If it is wrong on the one hand to read into it (the *Arthaśāstra*) the ideas of a great statesman or a deep political thinker, on the other hand half its value is missed by treating it as the pedantic theorisings of a Pandit."² Later on³ Johnston shows how Kauṭalya is profoundly practical in his prescriptions. Suffice it to say here that statesmen in ancient India were generally from the Pandit's class though particular instances of statesmen from other classes are not lacking.