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The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t23: Meyer, 1926-27

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t23

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English

Meyer, 1926-27

c11.s1.t23.1

Johann Meyer’s German translation of the *Arthaśāstra* was published in 1926 (Leipzig) as *Das altindische Buch vom Welt-und Staatsleben* (The Ancient Indian Book of Worldly and Political Life).¹ The next year was published his voluminous work entitled *Ueber das Wesen der altindischen Rechtsschriften und ihr Verhältniss zu einander und zu Kauṭilya* (On the Nature of Ancient Indian Law books and their Relation with one another and with Kauṭilya). The German translation contains in the introduction a lengthy discussion bearing on the Kauṭalya question.

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¹ See B. K. Sarkar: “The German Translation of the Kauṭilyan *Arthaśāstra*” in the IHQ., (Calcutta) June 1928.

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As author of studies on *Daśakumāracharita* (1903) and Indian womanhood (cf. *Das Weib im altindischen Epic*, The Woman in Ancient Indian Epic Poetry, 1915), Meyer is interested in indology more as a humanist than as a philologist. So in his introduction to the translation of the *Arthaśāstra* as well as notes one finds his interest in the personality of Kauṭalya from the standpoint of the vital urges of life. He examines also the contents of the *Kauṭalya-darśanam* with a view to the requirements of the social organism. We encounter here once more the humanist's grasp of the fundamental realities of flesh and blood and of the universal springs of action in private morals and public life. He is not a mere, conventional Kauṭalyalogist. One feels in his attempts at psychological analysis and literary style that he commands the key to the very soul of Kauṭalya.

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In regard to the Kauṭalya question, i.e., the date and personality of the author of the *Arthaśāstra*, Meyer devotes 36 pages of the introduction in order to vindicate the Indian tradition. He tries to prove that Kauṭalya of the Chandragupta Maurya fame, the ambitious and diplomatic Brāhmaṇa minister, the revolutionary philosopher and scholar, is the one single author, compiler and reformer of the political science as embodied in the *Arthaśāstra* associated with his name. The tradition remains unshaken, says he, in spite of modern attempts to assail it, and appears even to be "supported by very high probability." Doubts, of course, are not dissipated. But we must be very modest in our scepticism, at any rate, for the present. The benefit of doubt is in Meyer's judgment on the side of the tradition.

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To begin with, neither Megasthenes not Patanjali of course mentions Kauṭalya. But that the tradition cannot be negatived by *argumentum ex silentio* is quite handy although not the only reply.

Cites (2)