The Mauryan Polity c13.s10.13

c13.s10.13

(d) To say that Megasthenes’ account betrays an infant stage of India’s technical sciences is a contradiction in terms. His mention of other metals as well as their different uses show as much an advanced stage as that portrayed in the Arthaśāstra. We are not able to find any difference between the two versions except the fact that Megasthenes does not mention much by way of workmanship in metals. If we rely on literary tradition, advancement of metal culture has reached a great stage before Kauṭalya’s time. It continued to keep its level and maintain its prestige with greater glory and success under the Mauryas, because the Mauryas gave the country tranquillity and peace which are so essential for the progress of any business or industry. It may however surmised that it had become decadent under the Nandas and revived under the Mauryas with greater vigour and fresh enthusiasm. Whatever may be the truth, the fact remains that there is no warrant to call the statement in Megasthenes' records as infantine and that in the *Arthaśāstra* as progressive culture. It is something like the proverb "Give the dog a bad name and hang it".¹