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94
The anonymous cūrṇikāra opines his own view that the merchants etc. have learnt the art of gathering wealth from Caṇakya. The Avaśyaka-cūrṇi quotes the story of merchants as an example of Cāṇakya's pāriṇāmikī-buddhi, in which a sense of admiration is seen, while in the Sūtrakṛtānga-curņi a sense of reproach is quite evident.
(2) Sūtrakṛtānga 1.8.4 reads
सत्थमेगे तु सिक्खंता, अतिवायाय पाणिणं । एगे मंते अहिज्जंति, पाणभूयविहेडिणो ॥
While commenting upon this gāthā, the cūrṇikāra says एगे असंजता, न सर्वे अथवा सर्वे कारणा अस्त्रशास्त्राण्यधीयते, हंभीमासुरुक्खं कोडल्लगं बावत्तरिं वा कलाओ सुठु सिक्खति ।
(Sūtrakṛtānga-cūrṇi p.177)
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The tentative translation will be as follows
Some householders or unrestrained monks, or (we can say) all, learn astraśāstras (i.e. the science of weapons or warfare) for particular reason and who are keen in harming or killing others, learn thesciences like the Hambhīmāsurukkha (?), Kautilyaka and all the 72 arts (or sciences).
General Observations:
Here, Kautilya is mentioned as a promoter of astraśāstra and not of arthaśāstra. The cūrṇikāra prefers the reading 'atthasattha' because he wants to despise Kautilya (he has not used the name Cāṇakya) for his deceitful activities and violence.
It is sure that Jinadāsagaṇi is not the author of this cūrṇi because these views are totally against the views expressed in the curṇis on the Avaśyaka, Niśītha and Daśavaikālika.
We observe that though Caṇakya is generally praised for his pārināmikī-buddhi and pandita-marana in the previous litera
