The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s1.t36.4

c11.s1.t36.4

At one point we are told that the *janapada* referred to in the *Arthaśāstra* is a small territory of the area of a modern *tahsil*. It is not clear as to whether Pran Nath believes that the state of the *Arthaśāstra* does not possess an area more extensive than that of a modern *tahsil*. But if so, one does not see why the *Arthaśāstra* should have regulations about forts, roads, rivers, ships etc. If, on the other hand, he believes, as indeed he does, that the *janapada* is only an administrative division but that the Kauṭalyan state is extensive, the references to sea ports, fisheries, pirate vessels, etc. cannot by themselves prove that the "author of the *Arthaśāstra* lived somewhere near the sea-coast."