The Mauryan Polity c12.5

c12.5

(1) Dr. Winternitz refers³ to the verse in which Kauṭalya says that he had taken the kingdom from the Nandas and remarks that the real minister in a book written by the order of or intended for his king would not have written such words, for, it could not have been very pleasing to the king. The verse under reference is a piece of internal evidence which goes to confirm the traditional story in the Purāṇas of Kauṭalya’s part in the revolution which resulted in the overthrow of the ruling Nanda dynasty of Magadha and the establishment of the Mauryan dynasty.