The Mauryan Polity c12.43

c12.43

There is, however, another reading Kauṭalya which may be adopted with advantage and which may silence all controversy so far as this particular topic goes. Not only is there the authority of the manuscripts for this but also there is inscriptional evidence besides lexicographical. Gaṇapati Śāstri says that the term Kauṭilya is certainly a misnomer. For, neither the term Kauṭilya nor its root Kuṭila as explained in the Nighaṇ- tus as Gotrarṣi and crooked. On the other hand the word Kuṭala is mentioned by Keśavasvāmin in his Nānārthārṇavasamkṣepa as meaning both Gotrarṣi and an ornament.