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Political Concepts in Ancient India
condensed it still further to a book of 1,000 chapters
only.
10
Kautilya in his Arthaśāstra very often finds an
occasion to refer to the views of several earlier
authorities on the subject, and they are, namely,
Viśālakṣa, Indra (Bāhudanta), Brhaspati, Sukra,
Manu, Bharad vāja, Gauraśiras, Parāśara, Pigūna
(Narada), Kaunapadanta, Vatavyadhi,
Ghota-
mukha, Katyāyana and Caranya. Kautilya refers
about a hundred times to yet another authority
with the honorific term Acarya, probably meaning
his own teacher," though he often disagrees with
this authority also. That these authors really
existed may be deduced from the fact that the
names of Viśālākṣa (Śiva), Indra (Bahudanta),
Brhaspati, Šukra, Manu, Bharadvāja, and Gaura-
siras are common to the lists given in both the
works, and that even now we have the works of
some of these authorities, if not in their original form,
at least in modified form, and they are namely, the
Manu Smrti. The Pārāśarasmriti, the Sukranīti
and the Brhaspatismriti (as reconstructed from
the quotations in other smriti works and com-
mentaries).
The Mahabharata
The Santi Parva of the Mahabharata is subdivided
5. Jolly (in his edition of the Arthaśāstra, 1923, II, p. 4)
takes the word to mean "previous teachers", and MM. P. V.
Kane interprets it as "the ancient authors of the śāstra collecti-
vely". But these meanings are not convincing. See K.V.
Rangaswami Aiyangar, Brhaspati-Smrti Introduction, p.
139 ff.
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Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
condensed it still further to a book of 1,000 chapters
only.
10
Kautilya in his Arthaśāstra very often finds an
occasion to refer to the views of several earlier
authorities on the subject, and they are, namely,
Viśālakṣa, Indra (Bāhudanta), Brhaspati, Sukra,
Manu, Bharad vāja, Gauraśiras, Parāśara, Pigūna
(Narada), Kaunapadanta, Vatavyadhi,
Ghota-
mukha, Katyāyana and Caranya. Kautilya refers
about a hundred times to yet another authority
with the honorific term Acarya, probably meaning
his own teacher," though he often disagrees with
this authority also. That these authors really
existed may be deduced from the fact that the
names of Viśālākṣa (Śiva), Indra (Bahudanta),
Brhaspati, Šukra, Manu, Bharadvāja, and Gaura-
siras are common to the lists given in both the
works, and that even now we have the works of
some of these authorities, if not in their original form,
at least in modified form, and they are namely, the
Manu Smrti. The Pārāśarasmriti, the Sukranīti
and the Brhaspatismriti (as reconstructed from
the quotations in other smriti works and com-
mentaries).
The Mahabharata
The Santi Parva of the Mahabharata is subdivided
5. Jolly (in his edition of the Arthaśāstra, 1923, II, p. 4)
takes the word to mean "previous teachers", and MM. P. V.
Kane interprets it as "the ancient authors of the śāstra collecti-
vely". But these meanings are not convincing. See K.V.
Rangaswami Aiyangar, Brhaspati-Smrti Introduction, p.
139 ff.
Digitized by
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN