DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53502#0042
34
Kautilya Arthasastra
making of the wily Brahman Ca^akya a king-maker,
the destroyer of the Nandas and supporter of Candra-
gupta alias Sandrakottos who came to the throne
about 315-321 B. C. It might indeed be questioned
whether the primeminister of Sandrakottos is not a
figure of pure mythology, as he is not mentioned in
the Greek reports concerning Sandrakottos and as
Hemacandra relates very marvellous stories about
him such as that he had all his teeth complete on
being born, that he ripped up the belly of a Bhatta to
obtain food from it for Candragupta, and that he be-
came a goddess after his violent death on a burning
dunghill.1 The minister Raksasa in the MudrSra-
ksasa is probably a myth, why should not K. be
mythical as well ? The wonderful rise of a new
dynasty might have given a start to the invention of
myths.
Granting that K. may be a historic figure, in spite
of the legends connected with his name, his asserted
authorship of the A. is rendered highly improbable by
the contents of that work. Thus the A. refers to
alchemy (II, 12) which was a late growth on the tree
of Indian science and makes frequent use of the late
term sulba for copper e. g. in the compound ^ulbadha-
tu £astra “ the science of the metal called Sulbaf also
of the term sururiga or suranga “a mine’ which is pro-
bably derived from syrinx, a Greek Hellenistic word
often occurring in the description of a siege in Poly-
bius and Diodorous. The political and economic
institutions and social conditions described in the A.
are of a far more advanced and complicated type than
x those recorded or alluded to by Megasthenes about
1 Sthaviravaljcarita, loc. cit.
Kautilya Arthasastra
making of the wily Brahman Ca^akya a king-maker,
the destroyer of the Nandas and supporter of Candra-
gupta alias Sandrakottos who came to the throne
about 315-321 B. C. It might indeed be questioned
whether the primeminister of Sandrakottos is not a
figure of pure mythology, as he is not mentioned in
the Greek reports concerning Sandrakottos and as
Hemacandra relates very marvellous stories about
him such as that he had all his teeth complete on
being born, that he ripped up the belly of a Bhatta to
obtain food from it for Candragupta, and that he be-
came a goddess after his violent death on a burning
dunghill.1 The minister Raksasa in the MudrSra-
ksasa is probably a myth, why should not K. be
mythical as well ? The wonderful rise of a new
dynasty might have given a start to the invention of
myths.
Granting that K. may be a historic figure, in spite
of the legends connected with his name, his asserted
authorship of the A. is rendered highly improbable by
the contents of that work. Thus the A. refers to
alchemy (II, 12) which was a late growth on the tree
of Indian science and makes frequent use of the late
term sulba for copper e. g. in the compound ^ulbadha-
tu £astra “ the science of the metal called Sulbaf also
of the term sururiga or suranga “a mine’ which is pro-
bably derived from syrinx, a Greek Hellenistic word
often occurring in the description of a siege in Poly-
bius and Diodorous. The political and economic
institutions and social conditions described in the A.
are of a far more advanced and complicated type than
x those recorded or alluded to by Megasthenes about
1 Sthaviravaljcarita, loc. cit.