Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 466

18. QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
The opinions of the followers of the schools of Bṛhaspati (Barhaspatyaḥ) and Sukra (Ausanasaḥ) are cited several times in Kautilya's Arthasāstra, and these two ancient writers on statecraft are often quoted in the Mahabharata and other texts.1 A large number of quotations from Bṛhaspati in verse occurs in Lakṣmidhara's Krtyakalpataru (Rājadharmakanda ) composed in the twelfth century; and as late as the fourteenth century, Candesvara quotes Bṛhaspati, Barhaspatya, and the Niti or Rajaniti of Sukra in his Rajanitiratnākara, but the work of Sukra quoted therein is not the same as the extant Sukranitisara, which is believed to be a later compilation.
Another reference to Sukra occurs in Book II. The young prince Yasodhara is described as proficient as Sukra in political science and the disposition of troops on the battlefield. The Nitisastra of Sukra seems to have paid special attention to the latter topic, as the Mahabharata (Asramaväsikaparva 7. 15) refers to the Vyuhas known as Sakata, Padma, Vajra
and mentions in this connection the sastra of Uśanas.
अथोपपत्त्या शकटं पद्मवज्रं च भारत । उशना वेद यच्छास्त्रं तत्रैतद्विहितं विभो ॥
The subject is treated in detail in Kautilya's Arthasastra 10. 6, wherein the discussion opens with a reference to the classification of vyühas according to Usanas and Brhaspati..
We know very little about the Nitisastras of Parikṣit, Bhima and Bhisma. With regard to the latter, the opinions of an old writer on politics named Kaunapadanta are cited several times in Kautilya's Arthaśāstra (1. 8. etc.), and as Kaunapadanta is an epithet of Bhisma, the two names might refer to the same author. The Nitisastra of Parāśara seems to be different from the Dharmasamhita of the same author. The opinions of Parasara and the school of Parasara are quoted several times in Kautilya's Arthasastra (1. 8, 15 etc.). An opinion of Parasara is cited also in Kamandaka's Nitisara 8. 39.5 An early reference to the Nitisastra of Parāśara occurs in the Tantrākhyāyikā, the oldest recension of the Pañcatantra, which mentions the Nitiśästra of Manu, Bṛhaspati, Bhrgu, Parāśara, Sālankayana and Caṇakya (Book III).
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We know a bit more about Bharadvaja. The Nitisastra of Bhāradvaja has to be distinguished from the Smrti work attributed to the same
1 See Kane: History of Dharmasastra, Vol. I, sections 17 and 16.
2 Ed. J. Sastri. Lahore.
3 ' कविरिव राजराद्धान्तेषु', 'काव्य इव व्यूहरचनासु'.
4 'पक्षावरस्यं प्रतिग्रह इत्यौशनसो व्यूहविभागः । पक्षौ कक्षावुरस्यं प्रतिग्रह इति बार्हस्पत्यः । ' 5 द्वे एव प्रकृती न्याय्ये इत्युवाच पराशरः। अभियोक्तृप्रधानत्वात् तथान्यो योऽभियुज्यते ॥