A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c12.s2.5

c12.s2.5

∗ The Śukranīti is attributed to Śukrāchārya, the preceptor of the demons, but it was doubtless produced by an unknown author of the late mediæval period who aspired to cast the halo of venerable antiquity around his production by tracing its creation back to an indefinite past. Its exact date is still uncertain. Gustav Oppert who published the standard edition of this work held (Preface, p. viii) that it "belonged to the same period which produced the Smriti and the early epic literature." His view which necessitated the belief in the existence of guns and gunpowder in Ancient India is at the present time completely discredited. One of the latest contributors to the controversy regarding Śukra's date is *Prof. Benoy Kumar Sarkar (Positive Background of Hindu Sociology.* Vol. II Part I, pp. 65-67).