The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t1.2

c11.s1.t1.2

At this point Smith's attitude to Kauṭalya may be seen from the following extract. "Whoever its author may have been," says he, "that curious work undoubtedly is proved by both external and internal evidence to be of early date. The substance of the precepts and regulations has an extremely archaic aspect, and in my judgment, the polity described is mainly that of the Maurya age. The treatise in fact may be read as a commentary on, and exposition of the notes recorded by the Greek observers." He used it really as something by which the Greek accounts could be corroborated. He was not touched by the Megasthenes *vs.* Kauṭalya problem.