The Mauryan Polity c5.s2.t2.19

c5.s2.t2.19

Again the classical style of the ślokas and the metre need not be reckoned as serious arguments. Their evidence is not of much value in determining the date of a piece of composition. Whatever that may be, the apparent non-conformity to Pāṇinīyan rules, the markedly archaic style, and the system of philology which is distinctly Vedic, show that the author of the extant *Arthaśāstra* must have been considerably ancient.