The Mauryan Polity c12.77

c12.77

It is indeed difficult to explain why Kauṭalya has been known by so many names. One explanation is that due to his popularity as well as his rare skill and policy, different people endowed him with different titles. Mallanāga is another name. It means Indra’s Elephant and this implies that he possessed the great energy and prowess of the Irāvada, the state elephant of the Lord of Heaven. This seems to fit in especially in view of the fact that Sakara, in the first Act of Mṛcchakaṭikā, who thinks too much of his valour, takes pride in comparing himself to Cāṇakya. It may be again that Malla is the name of a country² and perhaps Kauṭalya is a native of that Malla country. He was styled an elephant among the Mallas who were the people of the Malla country. If this interpretation be established Dramila may not mean a native of Dramila or Tamil country as is rendered by the Vācaspatya of Tāranātha. The view that Kauṭalya must have been a native of South India is gaining currency among the scholars.¹ J. J. Meyer, the latest writer on the subject, seems to favour this view² from the fact that Kauṭalya’s paṇa was of silver and was equal to 16 māṣa as against 20 in the Smṛtis. But R. L. Mitra speaks of a poet known as Dramila. He also explains the term Pakṣilasvāmi thus: “As a student of Nyāya his memory was strong that he could remember for a fortnight (pakṣa) a thesis once told him and hence the name.”³ That this interpretation is not impossible is seen from the fact that it is said of a much later writer by name Pakṣadhara Miśra. His other name was Aṅgula as is seen from the Nānārthārṇava Saṃkṣepa.⁴ Pakṣilasvāmi is a well-known name for the celebrated Vātsyāyana. R. L. Mitra suggests that the epithet shows that Kauṭalya became an ascetic-preceptor in the evening of his life. Or as the teacher of teachers he could have been regarded master by his successors who were authors of Nīti texts. For example, Kāmandaka calls him as his Ācārya. Daṇḍi calls him as Ācārya Viṣṇugupta.