Studies in Ancient Hindu Polity (Based on the Arthashastra of Kautilya), Vol. I c3.65

c3.65

The universal reverence attaching to epoch-making masterpieces preserves them against the ravages of time and interpolators alike. They never get antiquated, but they become canonical. So has been preserved through centuries Yāska’s Nirukta as well as Patañjali’s Mahābhāshya. This is also true of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, which has further preserved itself by the numbering of its प्रकरण's and the sketching of its contents. Thus the suspicion against the genuineness of the work is unfounded, while the unanimous Indian tradition according to which the Arthaśāstra is the work of the famous Minister of Chandra Gupta is confirmed most decisively, as we have already seen, by a series of internal reasons furnished by the book itself.