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The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t18: Pāṭaliputra Not Mentioned in the Arthaśāstra

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t18

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Pāṭaliputra Not Mentioned in the Arthaśāstra

c11.s1.t18.1

But let us see what use Stein makes of the data and how. We have the following passage:

c11.s1.t18.2

“Two Fragments of Megasthenes (No. 25 and No. 26) deal with the city Pali(m) bothra and its fortification” (pp. 28-29).

c11.s1.t18.3

And his next sentence reads as follows : “From the *Arthaśāstra*, however, nothing can be derived about Pāṭaliputra (*nichts über Pāṭaliputra entnehmen*).”

c11.s1.t18.4

Such being the actual position of the data on both sides, the reasonable procedure should be not to attempt institute a comparison between the two at all. As long as Kauṭalya has nothing to say about Pāṭaliputra it is entirely irrevalent to talk of his agreement with or discrepancy from Megasthenes.

c11.s1.t18.5

But Stein has considered it worth while to go at length into this question, because Kauṭalya deals in detail with the “installations of a fort” (*Einrichtungen einer Festung*). It is evident that according to Stein no particular fort of any specified locality has been discussed by Kauṭalya. Just the general considerations about a fort are all that can be derived from the *Arthaśāstra*. In the interest of logic one should, therefore, leave Kauṭalya alone because his evidence cannot possibly have any bearings on Pāṭaliputra. A simple illustration will make the situation clear. Suppose a particular individual has been stabbed with a dagger. A gentleman A has reported the fact to the Police. The Police summons, say, to the witness box a gentleman B. The magistrate asks B if he has seen the stabbing. B replies that he knows what is a dagger, how daggers can be manufactured, what kind of craftsmen are skilled in making daggers, and so on. About the stabbing itself he is silent. In regard to Pāṭaliputra and its fortification Kauṭalya’s evidence is no more valuable than B’s in regard to stabbing.

Cites (1)