________________
CHANDRÁGUPTA'S GOVERNMENT 277 (cf. strî ganair dhanvihhih of the Arthaśāstra) and appeared in public only on four occasions, viz., in time of war ; to sit in his court as a judge ; to offer sacrifice and to go on hunting expeditions.
Chandragupta's Government Chandragupta was not only a great soldier and conqueror, he was a great administrator. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador at his court, has left detailed accounts of his system of government. The edict of his grandson Asoka, and the Arthaśāstra attributed to his minister, Kautilya, confirm in many respects the particulars of the organisation of the empire given by the distinguished envoy. The Arthaśāstra certainly existed before Bāņa (seventh century A.D.) and the Nandisātra of the Jainas (not later than the fifth century A.D.). But it is doubtful if, in its present shape, it is as old as the time of the first Maurya. Reference to Chinapatta China silk, whicb, be it remembered, occurs frequently in classical Sanskrit literature, points to a later date, as China was clearly outside the horizon of the early Mauryas, and is unknown to Indian epigraphy before the Nāgārjunikonda inscriptions. Equally noteworthy is the use of Sanskrit as the official language, a feature not characteristic of the Maurya epoch. A date as late as the Gupta period is, however, precluded by the absence of any reference to the Denarius in the sections dealing with weights and coins. Quite in keeping with this view is the reference to the Arthaśāstra contained in Jaina canonical works that were reduced to writing in the Gupta age. We have already adduced grounds for believing that the Arthaśāstra probably existed before the second century A.D. Though
Athenaios that Amitrochates (i.e., Bindusāra) begged Antiochos Soter to buy and send him a professor (Monahan, The Early History of Bengal, pp. 164, 176, 179).
1 P. 9 f. ante.
