A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c10.13

c10.13

Prof. D. R. Bhandarkar, while rightly emphasising the debt of the ‘rājadharma’ section of the Mahābhārata to the early authors of the Arthaśāstra, has, we think, ignored the real character of this section as involving a synthesis of Arthaśāstra and Dharmasūtra thought. This omission, it appears to us, has prevented him from indicating the true relation of the rājadharma section to the older Arthaśāstra works. He writes (op. cit. pp. 110-111), “To the same period (viz. 600-325 B. C.) seem to belong the chapters from the Mahābhārata, especially from the Śāntiparvan, which deal with rājadharmānuśāsana; and it is not at all improbable that this section represents in the main the work of the pre-Kauṭilyan political philosopher Kauṇapadanta as this is but another name for Bhīṣma. The account of polity which they contain seems to have been drawn principally from the systems of Bṛihaspati, Uśanas and Manu.” Now this pronouncement is, we think, open to exception on the following grounds:—(1) Dr. Bhandarkar’s date for the rājadharma section of the Mahābhārata apparently rests upon his view of the priority of the Śāntiparvan to Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra—a view which, as we have shown elsewhere (supra pp. 72-73 footnote) not only runs counter to the general trend of authoritative opinion on the point, but is unsupported by valid evidence. Furthermore, it is directly contradicted by a historical allusion occurring in one of the chapters of the above section. In chapter LXV (13-15) Māndhātā is quoted as asking the god Indra, “How should all these folk living in kingdoms, the Yavanas, the Kirātas, the, Gāndhāras, the Chīnas, the Śavaras, the Barbaras, the Śakas, the Tuṣāras, the Kaṅkas, the Pahlavas, the Andhras, the Madrakas, the Puṇḍras, the Pulindas, the Ramaṭhas, the Kāmbojas, the castes which sprang from the Brāhmaṇas and the Kṣattriyas, the Vaiśyas and the Śūdras live?” The same passage occurs in the South Indian recension (Ch. LXIV 13-15) with our point of view is concerned, their blending of materials derived from the Arthaśāstra and the Dharmasūtras. One important consequence of this connection with the earlier canon is, we think, that the authors present their extensive rules of