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prakarana-s, was not composed of 6000 śloka-s, but
much less; it is a work written in prose and not in
śloka-s. Therefore opinions were expressed that 'no
reasonable doubt is permissible that there was a time
when the Arthaśästra of Kauṭalya was wholly composed
of verses ¹.1 On the other hand opinions were
expressed that a śloka is composed of thirty-two
syllables, thus Kautilya mentioned that his work was
composed of 187-8 verses, approximately the number
of verses found in reality in K. On the contrary,
opinions were expressed that 6000 śloka-s are equal to
192,000 syllables and therefore the passage in the
Daśakumaracarita mentioned above was considered as
referring to the whole of Kautilya's Arthaśāstra in prose.
This author does not intend to reopen the whole
learned discussion on this subject; he does wish to
emphasize, however, that despite the fact that the
various Cāṇakya collections do not have a unitary
character and deal in a great part with ethics they
do, nevertheless, contain a large number of maxims
and aphorisms of raja-niti character. It seems to this
author that it is possible to extract from the numerous
collections of Canakya's sayings those maxims which
normally would have been included in a versified
rāia-nīti.
INTRODUCTION
AIM OF THE STUDY
15. The aim of this study is to prepare a collection
of Canakya's maxims dealing with subjects which, as
¹ D. R. Bhandarkar, 'Date of Kauṭalya,' ABORI, 7,
p.
78.
prakarana-s, was not composed of 6000 śloka-s, but
much less; it is a work written in prose and not in
śloka-s. Therefore opinions were expressed that 'no
reasonable doubt is permissible that there was a time
when the Arthaśästra of Kauṭalya was wholly composed
of verses ¹.1 On the other hand opinions were
expressed that a śloka is composed of thirty-two
syllables, thus Kautilya mentioned that his work was
composed of 187-8 verses, approximately the number
of verses found in reality in K. On the contrary,
opinions were expressed that 6000 śloka-s are equal to
192,000 syllables and therefore the passage in the
Daśakumaracarita mentioned above was considered as
referring to the whole of Kautilya's Arthaśāstra in prose.
This author does not intend to reopen the whole
learned discussion on this subject; he does wish to
emphasize, however, that despite the fact that the
various Cāṇakya collections do not have a unitary
character and deal in a great part with ethics they
do, nevertheless, contain a large number of maxims
and aphorisms of raja-niti character. It seems to this
author that it is possible to extract from the numerous
collections of Canakya's sayings those maxims which
normally would have been included in a versified
rāia-nīti.
INTRODUCTION
AIM OF THE STUDY
15. The aim of this study is to prepare a collection
of Canakya's maxims dealing with subjects which, as
¹ D. R. Bhandarkar, 'Date of Kauṭalya,' ABORI, 7,
p.
78.