Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c19.16

c19.16

| *Asoka's Edicts.* | *Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra.* |
| 28. Mention of officers called *Anta-Māhamātras* in PE. V. | 28. Kauṭilya [II. 4] mentions *Anta-pālas* among the eighteen *Tīrthas* or Heads of Departments in the administration. |
| 29. List of protected creatures in PE. V. | 29. It is interesting to note that Kauṭilya [II. 26] also gives a list of protected creatures (*pradiṣṭābhayānām*) among which are included in common with this Edict the following, viz., Haṁsa, Chakravāk, Śuka, Śārika, and other auspicious creatures (*maṅgalyāḥ*). It may be also noted that though Kauṭilya does not make his list of protected creatures as exhaustive as the Edict, he lays down the principle of such protection which is only applied in the Edict to individual cases mentioned. According to that principle, those creatures, beasts, birds and fishes, are to be protected which do not prey upon other living creatures (*apravṛitta-vadhānām*), as also those which are regarded as auspicious (*maṅgalyāḥ*) like the cow. On this principle, Kauṭilya also generally forbids under penalty the killing of the |