Indian Antiquary Vol 53

SR No.: 032545
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1985
Total Pages: 392
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 190

182
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[AUGUST, 1924
known after the lapse of fifteen hundred years, about the sage interpreter of Buddhist literature.
S. M. EDWARDES. LES THÉORIES DIPLOMATIQUES DE L'INDE AN.
CIENNE ET L'ARTHAÇÃSTRA, par KÅLIDAS NÃO. Jean Maisonneuve et fils, Paris, 1923.
A considerable literature has already grown up around the famous Arthasdetra of Kautilya, since its first discovery and publication a few years ago and shows every sign of expanding. Among the latest and not the least important of the works which seek to illuminate and draw historical conclu. sions from that important literary legacy of the Mauryan Age is this French work by Professor Káliaas Någ, recently published in Paris. Thirty years ago, as the author remarks, no one would have believed that the East could throw any useful light upon the history of diplomacy, which appears as a recognized term for the first time in the international law of the nineteenth century. But the discovery of the cuneiform tablets at Tel-el-Amarna, and of the priceless remains at Boghazkeui, together with the researches of Professor' Garstang and H. Winck. ler, have rendered necessary a fundamental revision of our ideas on this subject. The treatise attributed to the emperor Chandragupta's Brahman minister carries us even further from the beliefs of thirty or forty years ago : for in it we find the problems of peace and war, of neutrality and the balance of power, in brief all the fundamental questions with which modern international law deals, discussed with remarkable wealth of detail. The author does not confine himself to a simple explanation of general principles and to definitions of the laws, but puts forward concrete cases in which such principles and laws are applied.
Kautilya himself informs us at the commencement of his great treatise on the Arthadastra or Science of Profit that he composed it by uniting and collating the summaries of nearly all the treatises composed by the masters of this science in epochs preceding his own; and acting on this evidence, Professor Kálidas Någ has sought in his new work to place Kautilya's Arthasastra in its proper historical pers. pective, to trace the broad lines of India's political evolution up to the approximate date of Kautilya, and lastly, after examining Kautilya's own contri. bution to the development of the science, to illus. trate the continuity of ancient tradition from docu. ments of later date. Professor Nag finds it impos. Bible to accept the view, originally held by Mr. Shame SÅstri and supported by Professor Jacobi, that the Arthasástra was written entirely by Chandragupta's minister about 325 B.C. In the first place, the character of the diplomacy illustrated in the text is foreign to that of a great centralized empire, ruch as Chandragupta ruled, and appertains rather to an opoch of feudalism, in which each ruler is in constant conflict for hegemony with his equals, and which
shows no trace of the centralizing imperialism of the Mauryan Emperor.
The science of Artha is very ancient : some of its parts, like the science of law, are pre-Buddhistic. The ancient text, discovered by Professor Shame Sastri, is certainly not a homogeneous work, belonging in its entirety to a single epoch: and even if we accept the view that a great portion of the treatise was the work of Kautilya himself, it is equally probable that it has been recast on several succeeding occasions. Professor Någ gives instances in support of his theory that the Arthasastra is not the product of a single powerful brain, but rather an encyclo. pædia of Hindu political science, to which more than one expert has contributed. Finally he discusses the reason why the Arthasástra is the only document now existing on the subject, and why it remained utterly unknown, until Professor Shama Sastri suddenly discovered it in a private library. The solution must be sought, according to Professor Någ, in the attitude adopted by the Hindu mind towards & science which bore very closely upon the moral life of man. Viewing the matter from an. other standpoint-one may say that, although the empire inherited by Asoka was based upon the Hindu science of Artha and Rajaniti, yet that great ruler absolutely transformed Hindu political science, by introducing Dharma, the law of piety, as the keynote of all human activity. The Arthasástra thus lost its original authority, and as the moral element inherent in Dharma gained ground, it was permitted to sink into obscurity. "History," says Professor Någ, "will decide whether India lost or gained by making this choice (i.e., of Dharma), but the fact remains that she discarded the path pointed out by Kautilya-Chanakya and chose instead that of Dharmaboka." Professor Nag's work deserves close study, and it is to be hoped that for the benefit of those who do not know French an authoritative English translation of the work will be published.
S. M. EDWARDES.
THE ARMY OF RANJIT SINGH, Parts I and II, by
SITA RAM KOHLI, M.A., reprinted from the Jour. nal of Indian History, February and September 1922. Oxford University Press, Bombay, Cal. cutta and Madras.
This modest but none the less useful historical pamphlet owes its appearance in some measure to the action of the Panjab Government, which recently brought to light the originalrecords of the Sikh government between 1812 and 1849. These had lain unnoticed for years in the archives of the Secretariat. The records are valuable ; for they comprise official papers dealing with the departmental administration of the Sikhs and throw a flood of light upon the system of government prior to the advent of British rule in the Panjab. The author of the article prefaces his account of the