DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

212 REFERENCE TO CHINA AND ALEXANDRIA [7.4
It would certainly have made the book far too unpopular to be copied,
whereas it was known for its high authority to Dandin, Kamandaki, and
Rajasekhara (10th century). A northern palm-leaf MS. fragment of the 12th
century A.D. survives. The work went out of fashion only because it
described the structure and aggrandizement of a state that was no longer
possible. The Arthasastra society, with its relatively high commodity
production, numerous contracts, and state enterprise, was unique.
Two substantial objections remain. Arth. 2.11 mentions a ( coral
Alakandaka, and says (after describing Indian Tussore silk as pattrorna)
that ‘ silk and chinapatta cloth originates in China (Cina)’. Sylvain Levi’s
ingenious equation alakandaka —— Alexandrian may be admitted, (MP.
has Alasanda for Alexandria) but it does not indicate a late date for the
book. Alexander founded many Alexandrias as new trade centres ; the
first and best of them immediately became a great emporium because of
its position. If coins of Arrhidaios and Diodotos could reach India in mint
condition, there is no reason why contemporary Alexandrian goods could
not. Mediterranean coral was always highly prized in India, being known
later as Roman coral (romaka-pravaja), so that the Alexandrian variety
would not necessarily be fished off the mouth of the Nile, but only traded
from that locality. A similar reasoning applies to the supposed derivation
of surunga (tunnel or sap) in Arth. 13.4 from the Greek syrinx. This says
nothing in favour of a date after 305 B. c., by which time Bindusara’s
army had become familiar with Greek poliorcetics. The other argument
is that clna could not be the name for the whole of China before Chin Shih
Hwang Ti unified it under his rule in 221 B. c. However, Chin was the
name of a kingdom centuries earlier, which controlled the land traderoute
to India, and traded in silk. Nothing is said about cma being ‘ the
whole of China’, for the same chapter also states that ‘ cinasl furs come
from Balkh ‘ — on the same trade-route, which still transmits the identical
furs.
It cannot be denied that there may be brief later interpolations in
the Arthasastra, to bring it up to date in small details, just as a good