Political Concepts in Ancient India /37

Introduction
 
admiration for Kautṭilya. He pays homage to the

illustrious Viṣṇugupta (Kautṭilya) who churned up

the nectar in the form of the science of politics

(Nītiśāstra) from the ocean of Arthasśāstra (i.e., the

vast lore of Politics).[^15] This is in reality a summary

of the work of Kautilya in verse form. Except

Kautṭilya's treatment of the republican form of

government and civil, criminal and personal law,

almost everything that we have in the Arthaśāstra

is reproduced here in a summarised verse form con-
venient for memorisation.
 
17
 

venient for memorisation.
 
Other Technical Works on Politics
 

 
The SukraniŚukranīti, stuffed with varied and some-

times new informations on duties of the King, func-

tions of officials, foreign policy and art of war,

civil and judicial administration, etc., is most pro-

bably a work of the 11th or the 12th century A.D.

The Nitivaītivākyāmṛta of Somadeva (10th C.A.D.) is

an electic work based generally on old authorities.

Politics is elaborately discussed along with other

aspects of Dharma in several works like the Abhilaşṣi-

tārthacintāmaṇi of Someśvara (1331 A.D.), Yukti-

kalpataru of Bhoja (1025 A.D., Raājaniītikalpataru

of Laksṣmīdhara (1125 A.D.), Raājaniit<error>īit</error><fix>īti</fix>kāṇḍa of

Devanabhaṭṭa (c. 1300 A.D.), Raājanitiratnākara
ītiratnākara
of Canṇdeśvara (c. 1325 A.D.), Nītimayuūkha of Nīla-
kant
kaṇṭha (c. 1625 A.D.), Rājanītiprakāsa of Mitra miśra

(c. 1650 A.D.) and the Manasollaāsa of the Calukyan
ālukyan
King Someśvara (1125-1138 A.D.), which is more
 

 
[^15. ni] nītiśāstrāmṛtaṁ śrīmān arthaśāstra mahodadheḥ ya
uddadhre namastasmai viş
uddadhre namastasmai viṣnuguptaāya vedhase (Kaāman-
daki
dakīya Nitisūītisāra. I.6).
 
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN