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8
A.D.) in the eighth chapter of his famous work Daśakumāracarita in the following words अधीष्व तावत् दण्डनीतिम् । इयमिदानीम् आचार्य्यविष्णुगुप्तेन मौर्य्यार्थे षड्भिः श्लोकसहस्रैः संक्षिप्ता ।
'Read dandanīti. This has just now been presented in an abridged form extending to 6000 slokas by ācārya Viṣṇugupta for the benefit of Maurya.'
According to the Arthaśastra, the author is Kauțilya, but in the Daśakumaracarita, it is mentioned that the Arthaśāstra was written by Viṣṇugupta. But they were not two different persons. Because at the end of the fifteenth adhikarana of Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, the author himself says
दृष्ट्वा
fayfaufà बहुधा शास्त्रेषु भाष्यकाराणाम् । स्वयमेव विष्णुगुप्तश्चकार सूत्रं च भाष्यं च ।।
"Having seen discrepancies in many ways on the part of the writers of bhāṣyas on the śāstras, Viṣṇugupta has himself written both the sūtra and bhāṣya."
Thus with the help of all these references we can conclude that kautilya and Viṣṇugupta must be the one and the same person. But was the author really the prime-minister of Candragupta in the 4th century B.C. ? This doubt is cleared with the help of the verse noted down in the tenth adhyaya of the second adhikaraṇa of Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra. It runs thus
येन शास्त्रं च शस्त्रं च नन्दराजगता च भूः ।
अमर्षेणोद्धृतान्याशु तेन शास्त्रमिदं कृतम् ।।
"This sastra has been made by him who, under provocation, quickly rescued from chaos the science of polity and of war, as well as the earth from the hands of the Nandas."
While searching the legacy of Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra in the
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