The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s8.6

c11.s8.6

All through this work we have to feel the breath of two persons. The first is the hero, the demigod, the *avatāra*, Kauṭalya himself. The second is the person who is making Kauṭalya the subject of his study, propaganda, glorification and what not. This second man may be regarded as Kauṭalya's editor, publisher, advertiser etc., as the person who places Kauṭalya before the world of letters, who institutes comparisons between Kauṭalya and his precursors, and who narrates to mankind all that this superman is alleged to have accomplished. This man is Kauṭalya's Boswell,—a St. Paul to the Jesus of Nazareth. Whether there was a Viṣṇugupta, Chāṇakya, Kauṭalya or Kauṭilya we do not know, nay, need not know. His Boswell has created such a living personality, such a veritable *avatāra* like Vālmīki his Rāma that the actual historicity of Kauṭalya becomes a question of eighth-rate importance. Thanks to the brilliant propaganda made by this pious Anonym the *Arthaśāstra* passed into the literary tradition of India as an integral part of the folk's political consciousness.