DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

CONFIRMATION OF THE ARTHASASTRA 210
\ides for stone work; it ignores the boards of town officials without any head of each,
but engaged in cooperation which Megasthenes specifies; it knows nothing of the
commander in chief of the fleet and a regular navy such as Candragupta must have
used, but which was probably of minor account in many states. The care of strangers,
escorting them to the border, seeing after their effects i f deceased, are unknown to the
Arthasastra which does not provide for the registration of births and deaths, while the
work of Megas-thenes’s board in selling old and new manufactured articles contrasts
strikingly with the highly developed commercial and industrial conditions envisaged by
the Arthasastra. Megasthenes’s statement as tc the king’s ownership of the land is
supported by other Indian evidence; it is not the view of the Arthasastra; the taxes of
Megasthenes are simple as compared with the numerous imposts of the text, and while
Megasthenes ignores writing, the Arthasastra is full of rules on registration, the preparation
of royal documents, and recognizes passports.. .That the work was a product of C. 300
(A. D.) written by an official attached to some court is at least plausible if it cannot be
proved” (Hist. Skt. Lit. London 1940, pp. 459-61).
The same author earlier (JRAS. 1916, 130) stated as perfectly
possible that it was “ an early work, and that it may be assigned to the
first century B.C., while its mattef very probably is older by a good
deal than that.” There is no explanation for the change of ‘ probable’
date, except a massive prejudice, which would also explain many of
the ridiculous objections. If what survives of Megasthenes does not
mention writing, are we to conclude that Asoka suddenly invented it
a generation later, or should we doubt the authenticity of the Asokan
edicts too? Strabo (15.1.67) reports Nearchos to the effect that Indians
wrote upon finely woven cloth. The Arthasastra, so far from not
mentioning state ownership, is mainly preoccupied with the
exploitation of slta state land. Megasthenes’s state board (Meg. 87-
Strabo 15.1.50-52) for selling goods is fully confirmed (Arth. 4.2).
Officials were constantly transferred and each group had several chiefs
(bahumukhyam ; Arth. 2.9) which again supports the Greek report of
magisterial boards. Not only births and deaths but every human being
and all his property was carefully registered by the gopa registers (Arth.
2.35,36), who also had to report the migration of every person out of
their jurisdiction, whether in town 01 village. There were spies with
every caravan and in all walks of life; strangers were observed with
particular care.