The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.17

c13.s1.17

The obvious unevenness of a bureaucratic auditing process based on written accounts and the curious position of the mahāmātras bring us to another question. From where did Kauṭilya take the idea of an impressive gathering in the month of Āṣāḍha? Here again Scharfe seems to point in the right direction when he suggests a possible connection with the Vedic *varuṇa-praghāsa* sacrifice, which also takes place on the full-moon day of Āṣāḍha or of Śrāvaṇa, at any rate, right before the onset of the monsoon.²¹