The Mauryan Polity c13.s9.1

c13.s9.1

The fragments available do not furnish details in respect of the training, feeding, and housing of horses. Dr. Stein remarks: "What Megasthenes has given is hardly worth comparing, nor very much has he left to speak with definiteness." The statement that no bridles were used for horses is contradicted by himself. In Fg. 35 it is said that "the professional trainers break them in by forcing them to gallop round and round in a ring"—a kind of training that is mentioned with certain modifications by Kauṭalya.² In this connection it may be pointed out that the statement of Megasthenes that the elephants and horses were the monopoly of the king and that no private person had the right to enjoy them has been contradicted by other Greek writers. Strabo and Arrian definitely state that these animals were as much private property as that of the state.¹ The Kauṭalīya on the other hand nowhere commits itself to a statement that these animals were the sole property of the king. A perusal of the several connected chapters shows that these animals were used also as private property though preference was certainly given to the king who required their frequent use especially for purposes of war. Thus under these heads there is little or nothing worth comparison and the points of coincidences outweigh those of differences.²