Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

Page 15

[4] Travel-accounts of the foreigners and discovery of the
Arthaśāstra :
The discovery of Cāņakya's Arthaśāstra is a great event much greater than the discovery of Yuan Chwang's travel-accounts in western countries. Shamshastry discovered a manuscript of the Kauțilīya Arthaśāstra in 1909 and he published it in the same year. Shamshastry, T.Ganapatishastri, Dr. Jolly Meyor, Dr. Winternitz, Father Zimmerman, Mr. B.R.Hivargaonkar, Dr. R.P.Kangle, Dr. D.R.Bhandarkar were the great pioneers of the Kauțilyan studies.
Dr.Jolly and Dr. Winternitz claimed that the Kauțilīya Arthaśāstra is not authored by Kauțilya, the prime minister of Candragupta. According to them, "Kautilya' is an imaginary personality and not an actual master in polity. Sombody collected all ancient thoughts on polity and wrote down the treatise using the pen-name of Kautilya in the 3rd century A.D. However, Dr. Jolly admitted that there are some legends about the fabulous minister who was looked upon as the master and creator of the art of polity.
The above-mentioned inference was based on the travel
accounts of Megasthenese, who was a Greek ambassador in the court of Candragupta and who actually resided at Pāțaliputra. The absense of Kautilya's name in his travel-accounts actually led Dr. Jolly to the conclusion that Kautilya was an imaginary personality. Mr. B.R.Hivargaonkar and some other scholars have criticized this view. This is not a place to note down all the arguments in the debate. But in nutshell, we can say that ultimately the Indian Indologists have established that the main core of Kauțilīya Arthaśāstra is written by Kautilya (Cāņakya/Vişnugupta) approximately in the fourth century before the Christian Era.