The Mauryan Polity c12.32

c12.32

In the light of this can we still maintain that *Iti Kauṭalyaḥ* is a serious argument against the authenticity of the work? We cannot follow Prof. Keith when he advances the argument that under the explanation of the term *apadeśa* in the last book of the *Arthaśāstra* is cited one of Kauṭalya’s sentences from which the *prima facie* conclusion is that Kauṭalya is cited as an authority and not as the author.¹ The passage is as follows:—