The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c14.2

c14.2

The period between the fall of the Mauryas and the supremacy of the Guptas was remarkable for the rise of Smritis or books of traditional law, etc., Arthaśāstra, or science of welfare and classical Sanskrit literature. From these literary sources it is possible to glean many administrative details which usefully supplement the meagre information yielded by the coins and inscriptions of the period. Theoretical works have, of course, to be used with the utmost caution and never taken as an exact description of the conditions of any period but, as expositions of ideals and even utopias, they inevitably furnish a peep into the institutions they would improve.