Jain Thought and Culture

Author(s): G C Pandey
Publisher: University of Rajasthan

Page 61

The Riddle of Chanakya and Kautilya
51
At another place (24) Kaulilya assigns the pashandas a place of residence 'at the end of or near the cremalion ground' alongwith the Chandalas According to another passage of his work in case of need the king should appropriate the property of a pashanda-samgha (1 18) These statements, coupled with the fact that according to the Artlasastra it is the Vedic way of life or Trayıdharma that alone is beneficial to the people and the state (13), prove that the author ot this work could not have been a person who inherited a faith in Jainism from his father and became a Jain monk towards the end of his life
Thus the Jain sources, if interpreted correctly, also prove that Chanakva was different from Kautilya and was a follower of the Jain faith Indirectly it corroborates and strenthens the theory that Kautilya, the author ot the Arthasastra flourished in a much later period 54
54 Recently Thomas R Trautman (Kautilya and the Arthasastra, Leiden, 1971) has analysed the language of the Arthasastra with the help of computer and has concluded that it is compilation containing the work of at least three hands He suggests that the carliest layer of this work belongs to 150 AD and that it was finally edited by somebody in c 250 AD His conclusion does not go against our suggestion However as his method does not admit verification, it connot be regarded as very reliable