The Mauryan Polity c13.s12.170

c13.s12.170

Bereft of mythological, geographical, and legendary details, the useful portion of Megasthenes' report is very meagre and its authority cannot be taken as absolute.¹ Considered calmly and impartially Dr. Stein must himself admit that the differences between Kauṭalya and Megasthenes are not fundamental but are only noticed in minor and trifling details which might well escape an enlightened author on Ancient Indian Polity as too insignificant to mention.² So far as the important institutions which functioned as organs of the administration of land went, there is plenty of evidence in point of agreement which cannot be, by any stretch of imagination, discarded. In our opinion to build a theory on such a doubtful authority like the *Indika* of Megasthenes or the Greek accounts for the matter of that, is not worth the while. Further there are so many remarkable coincidences while there are not very many appreciable differences. It is hardly necessary to compare the much misunderstood report coloured by fables and myths with a work containing solid facts attested to uniformly by tradition.³