A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c8.s3.33

c8.s3.33

∗ Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra, Revised edition by R. Shamasastry, p. 426. Dr. Shamasastry (English translation, p. 515) translates this passage as follows :—“The subsistence of mankind is termed ‘artha,’ wealth ; the earth which contains mankind is also termed ‘artha,’ wealth ; that science which treats of the means of acquiring and maintaining the earth is the Arthaśāstra, Science of Polity.” Here earth (bhūmi) is evidently taken to be the alternative meaning of ‘artha.’ It is interpreted by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal in the same sense in his translation of the above passage (q. v.). We are very much inclined to doubt whether the above interpretation is the correct one. In our opinion the author clearly intends in the above passage to use ‘ityarthaḥ’ in the sense of the secondary signification of the first ‘artha’ which, as here used, is a technical term. A much later writer, Sarvānanda, while explaining the term ‘Arthaśāstra,’ likewise takes ‘bhūmi’ to be the derivative, and not the alternative, meaning of ‘artha.’ He writes (commentary on Amarakoṣa I. 6. 5) : arthāḥ hiraṇyādayasteṣu pradhānamartho bhūmiritareṣām tadyonitvāt.