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JUNE, 1924]
of many predecessors, a typical arthasâstra, then he gives us, not any learned compilation? but a picture of national affairs agreeing with the actual state of things, intimately known to him from personal experience. Indeed, it is hard to believe that, in his exposition, for instance, of the (955) political organisation, of the control of economic life (in the Adhyakṣapracâra), and of the administration of justice (in the Dharmasthiya), and clsewhere, he had not in view the object of transmitting to the princes and their advisers the principles of Govern ment tested by him. It is for this reason that the Kantiliya is a much more trustworthy source for our knowledge of the political and social conditions of Ancient India than Manu and similar works, where we are often in doubt as to how far the statements and rules contained in them are the theoretical injunctions of their Brahmanic authors, and how far they had had originally a practical significance. This dubious character of so many Brahmanic works, combined with the uncertainty of their date, has given rise, in their case, to a justified mistrust, and in certain quarters, even to their depreciation as against other sources, independent of them. Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids has in his highly valuable work, Buddhist India, London, 1903, Preface, p. iii f., enunciated the difference between the two historical conceptions, the one based on the Brahmanic, and the other on non-Brahmanic works, in a manner scarcely agreeing with the circumstances, as though the former alone claimed to be in possession of the truth. "Whenever they (i.e., such sentiments) exist, the inevitable tendency is to dispute the evidence, and turn a deaf ear to the conclusions. And there is perhaps, after all, but one course open, and that is to declare war, always with the deepest respect for those who hold them, against such views. The views are wrong. They are not compatible with historical methods, and the next generation will see them, and the writings that arc, unconsciously, perhaps, animated by them, forgotten." In this conflict (supposing it exists) we would call Kautilya as the most important witness, because he wrote half a century before the period in which Buddhism attained to predominant political influence. From what he has stated, the conclusion inevitably follows, that the kingdom which he directed, and others before his time, were modelled on those Brahmanic elements, which Manu, the Mahabharata, and generally the later Brahmanical works, postulate, although with some excesses of priestly partisanship. For this purpose we have principally to take into consideration the third Adhyaya of the first Adhikarana, of which I give below as close a translation as possible. After Kautilya has enumerated the Vedas, including the Itihasaveda and the six Vedâigas, he continues:
HISTORICAL GLEANINGS FROM THE KAUTILIYA.
129
"This well-known knowledge of theology is necessary (for the Arthasdstra), inasmuch as it lays down the duties of the castes and the Asrainas. (956) The duty of a Brahmana is to learn, to teach, to perform a sacrifice, to make others perform a sacrifice, to give away gifts and to receive them. The duty of a Ksatriya is to learn, to perform a sacrifice, give away gifts, to live by arms, and to protect men; that of a Vaisya is to learn, to perform a sacrifice, give away gifts, to engage in agriculture and cattle-breeding, and trade; that of a Sûdra is to serve the Arya, to engage in agriculture and cattle-breeding and trade, to follow the profession of an artificer, and that of a bard (Kusilava).
"The duty of a householder (second Asrama) is to earn his livelihood by his proper duties, to marry a girl of equal position, but belonging to a different Gotra, to have intercourse with her at the proper time, to give gifts to gods, manes, guests and servants, and
2 Compare the concluding verse : अमर्षेण - शास्त्रम् - उद्धृतम् ।
3 Compare Manu, I, 88-91 ; also Mahabharata, XII, 60. 8ff.; 61.
That is, to study the Veda.
6 Varttd, which consists in agriculture and cattle-breeding, and trade, 1. 4, p. 8. Manu, 1, 91, enjoins on him only the duty of serving diligently the remaining castes.
