The Mauryan Polity c5.s2.t2.6

c5.s2.t2.6

scholars, the lowest limit being B.C. 350.¹ Considered from different points of view there is no warrant to place the work before Pāṇini. It would appear that Kauṭalya must have known the work but rejected, as Patañjali, the great commentator on Pāṇini, did in regard to some details, *e.g.*, classification of speech. The *Mahābhāṣya*² like the *Arthaśāstra* classifies the parts of speech as four while Pāṇini and his school lay down twofold classification of the parts of speech.³