Theory of Government in Ancient India (Post-Vedic) c11.s2.t4.13

c11.s2.t4.13

A more important work is that ascribed to Śukrâchârya. Śukranīti. Indeed, after Somadeva Sûri, Śukranīti is the most remarkable Hindu treatise on government. Dr. Gustav Oppert, the editor of the text, concluded that the work "belonged to the same period which produced the Smriti and the early epic literature."² But not only do the spirit and atmosphere of the work point to a much later period but it specifically refers to guns and gun-powder. Even allowing for interpolations, Śukranīti cannot be older than the twelfth or thirteenth century A.D. Like Yuktikalpataru it is a loose composite production treating of a mass of miscellaneous matters. It borrows freely and extensively from its predecessors, for instance, from the Mahâbhârata, Manu and even Kâmandaka, and thus indirectly from Kauṭalya. If Śukranīti deserves particular notice, it is because it represents the last summing up of Hindu political thought, and because it introduces a few novel features of minor importance.