2023-03-01 14:23:19 by ambuda-bot
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INTRODUCTION
the nectar of the Nītiśāstra,¹ Kāmandaki probably
meant to say that Viṣṇugupta had extracted from the
textbook of Arthaśāstra the moral sayings on niti,
Caṇakya's famous aphorisms and maxims with a moral
and ethical background.²
5
7. Collections of these maxims are generally known
as rājanītiśāstra, or rājanītisamuccaya, or epitomes of
polity, although they do not contain now many
aphorisms dealing with raja-niti.
3
Many texts of collections of Canakya's maxims
open with the introductory stanza, beginning with the
words pranamya śirasā vişnum. The second half of this
stanza promises to deal with rajanitisamuccaya. The
reader will be however sorely disappointed in finding
anything of a like nature. Nevertheless Nīti main-
tains its place as an element of equal rank [with the
epos, Purăṇa-s, etc.] and need not fear obscuration by
comparison with other brilliant lights '.4 Sometimes
whole chapters are devoted to niti,5 but in some texts
containing Cāṇakya's maxims the number of stanzas
which can be assigned to nīti is negligible. It is most
1 नीतिशास्त्रामृतं धीमानर्थशास्त्रमहोदधेः ।
समुद्दधे नमस्तस्मै विष्णुगुप्ताय वेधसे ॥ (1.6 )
C
2 It is also possible that Kāmandaki simply meant that he
had extracted the book on political science, now known under
the name of Kautilya's Arthaśāstra.
3 Bh. Chaund Dutt in the Introd. to CSBD, p. xi.
4J. van Manen in the Foreword to CRC, p. i.
5 cf. infra para 20.
6 In particular in the Laghu Cāṇakya version we find very
few maxims dealing with niti.
the nectar of the Nītiśāstra,¹ Kāmandaki probably
meant to say that Viṣṇugupta had extracted from the
textbook of Arthaśāstra the moral sayings on niti,
Caṇakya's famous aphorisms and maxims with a moral
and ethical background.²
5
7. Collections of these maxims are generally known
as rājanītiśāstra, or rājanītisamuccaya, or epitomes of
polity, although they do not contain now many
aphorisms dealing with raja-niti.
3
Many texts of collections of Canakya's maxims
open with the introductory stanza, beginning with the
words pranamya śirasā vişnum. The second half of this
stanza promises to deal with rajanitisamuccaya. The
reader will be however sorely disappointed in finding
anything of a like nature. Nevertheless Nīti main-
tains its place as an element of equal rank [with the
epos, Purăṇa-s, etc.] and need not fear obscuration by
comparison with other brilliant lights '.4 Sometimes
whole chapters are devoted to niti,5 but in some texts
containing Cāṇakya's maxims the number of stanzas
which can be assigned to nīti is negligible. It is most
1 नीतिशास्त्रामृतं धीमानर्थशास्त्रमहोदधेः ।
समुद्दधे नमस्तस्मै विष्णुगुप्ताय वेधसे ॥ (1.6 )
C
2 It is also possible that Kāmandaki simply meant that he
had extracted the book on political science, now known under
the name of Kautilya's Arthaśāstra.
3 Bh. Chaund Dutt in the Introd. to CSBD, p. xi.
4J. van Manen in the Foreword to CRC, p. i.
5 cf. infra para 20.
6 In particular in the Laghu Cāṇakya version we find very
few maxims dealing with niti.