The Mauryan Polity c12.41

c12.41

There has been a war of words about the name Kauṭalya. Some manuscripts contain the word Kauṭilya while others Kauṭalya. The *edito princeps* Śāma Śāstri and Jolly¹ used Kauṭilya, while the editor of the Trivandrum edition, Gaṇapati Śāstri used Kauṭalya. It is asked whether a minister would style himself Kauṭilya meaning "Mr. Crooked" or "Crookedness personified". Granting that it is Kauṭilya, such nicknames are not uncommon in ancient India. Mention may be made of a few; Vātavyādhi (the wind-diseased) is no other than Uddhava, a relative of Kṛṣṇa according to the Purāṇas. Piśuna (tale-bearer) is another name for the sage Nārada; this is also the name of the Brahman minister of king Duṣyanta according to Kālidāsa’s Śakuntalā. Kaunapadanta (the teeth of the Rākṣasas) is identified with Indra, the God of Heaven. When one minister can style himself as Piśuna, why not another as Kauṭilya? What we wish to point out for the sake of argument is that after all there is nothing in the name. To advance such feeble arguments with regard to the name of the author, demonstrates their weakness in all nakedness.