Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c7.28

c7.28

§ 4. We must not lose sight of another class of mediæval productions. The little book *Brihaspati-Sūtra*, recently edited by Dr. F. W. Thomas (*Le Muséon*), is one of them. It is a piece of Artha-Śāstra literature in *Sūtras*. But in its present shape, it is a product of the Middle Ages, though portions therein are undoubtedly based on ancient materials. It gives, as we shall see, some very valuable information. Similarly, the Nīti-Vākyāmṛita by Somadeva who flourished in the tenth century A.C., is in *Sūtras*. It is an eclectic work based generally on old authorities.¹ The *sūtras* are generally quotations which the Jaina author calls, not altogether without justification, 'immortal essence' (*amṛita*) of 'political maxims.'