History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.103

v4.c62.103

The works on dharmaśāstra and arthaśāstra devote a good deal of space to the education of the king and to his moral discipline. Gaut. XI. 3 requires that the king should have received instruction in Trayī (the three Vedas) and Ānvīkṣikī. This last has been differently interpreted by different writers. Kauṭ. I. 2 says that Ānvīkṣikī comprehends Sāṅkhya,⁵⁷ Yoga and Lokā- yata and that it examines the relative strength of the three other *vidyās* with reasons, and thereby benefits the world, steadies the mind in calamities and prosperity and imparts excellence in intellect, speech and actions. It is always the torch of (sheds light on) all vidyās, it is the means of (inducing to go in for) all undertakings, it is the source of all dharmas. Kauṭilya derives the name from the root ‘īkṣ’ with ‘anu’ and he takes it to mean the science of ratiocination. It is somewhat strange that Lokāyata is included in Ānvīkṣikī, one of the subjects of study for the prince. But it appears from the remarks he makes that Kauṭ. uses it only in the sense of logic based on premises derived from ordinary experience (loka) though in later literature Lokāyata came to mean ‘nāstika’ (atheist, materialist). Acc.⁵⁸ to the Amarakośa, Viśvarūpa on Yāj. I. 306, Haradatta on Gaut. (XI. 3), Aparārka and several others Ānvīkṣikī means 'Logic'. Acc. to Kām. II. 7 and 11, the Mit. on Yāj. I. 311, Śukranīti I. 158 it means 'Ātmavidyā' (Metaphysics), while Śukranīti I. 153 and Rājanīti-prakāśa p. 118 combine the two by saying that it is logic that leads on to or is useful for acquiring knowledge of the Self. The Nītimayūkha (p. 34) includes logic and Vedānta in Ānvīkṣikī and Mīmāṁsā and smṛtis under Trayī. The Bārhaspatyasūtra (II. 5–6) advises the king to follow the Laukāyatika doctrines at the time of securing *artha* (wealth) and the Kāpālika-śāstra in achieving his sexual and similar desires.⁵⁹