Review
Reviewed Work(s): THE KAUṬILĪYA ARTHAŚĀSTRA PART I (A Critical Edition with a
Glossary) by R. P. Kangle
Review by: V. M. Bedekar
Source: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute , 1960, Vol. 41, No. 1/4
(1960), pp. 186-189
Published by: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44028466
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1 86 Annals of the Bandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Dr. Gode's other published volumes, also appended at the end of
this volume and they greatly enhance its utility as a valuable
book of reference.
V. M. Bedekar
THE KAUTILÎYA ARTHASĀSTRA PART I ( A Critical
Edition with a Glossary ) R. P. KanGLE, M.A., University
of Bombay, 1960 pp. 1-8 + 1-283 + Glossary 1-80 Price
Rs. 10/-
As stated in his Foreword by Dr. V. R. Khanolkar, the Vioe-
chancellor of the University of Bombay, this volume, under
review, marks the beginning of a new venture by the University
of Bombay, viz. the starting of a series entitled " University of
Bombay Studies : Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali The ArlliasCistra
of Kautalya occupies a unique place in Sanskrit literatureš Since
the firtt publication of its text by R Shāma Śl^tri ( Mysore, 1909 ),
i'ù has appeared in several editions*. R S lāma Sîstri, 2nd ed.
( 1919 ), 3rd ( 1924 ); T. Gaņapati Śisfcri ( Tri/andrum 1923-5, in
three parts, with a commentary ); J. Jolly and R Scümidt ( Lahore,
1923-5 ). Besides the English translation by R. Shema Slstri
( 1923 ) and the Garman translation by M>yer ( Laipzig 1926 ),
there have recently appeared two translations of fcaa taxt in
Russian. As a most authoritative work on ancien: Iüdian poli-
tical thought, it has' given risa, during the last fifty years since
publication, to a number of stimulating and profound studies by
distinguished Indian and European scholars, as a result of which a
vast literature has grown around it. A naw cricical edition of the
test with translation, aucompauied by a critical appraisal of
important studies bearing on ics content*, had therefore been a
keenly felt desideratum. The University of Bombay are, therefore,
to be congratula ted on undertaking to supply this want by inclu-
ding the Kdutilîya ArthaéUstra as the inaugural work in their 'Saries
of Studies! Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali'. This volum3 is Parti
giving the critical text of the ArthaéUstra and a glossary of impor-
tant unusual and technical words found ia the text. Part II of
this work containîg the English translatton of the text with full
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Reviews 187
critical and explanatory iiotö3 is, as
preface to the volume, in the press
shed in a four months' time. It will be
will be devoted to the study of the
with the text of the Arthaśastra.
The high-light of this critical édition is the utilization of a
new source which bas recently been discovered : viz. a fragment of
a palm-leaf manuscript in DevanāgarI characters discovered in a
Jain Bhândar at Pātnņ in Noith Gujerat and now in the possession
cf Muni Jiaavijayaji, Honorary Director, Bharatiya Vidja
Bhavan, Bombay. The unique importace of this MS. from the
point cf the textual problem of the Arthaśastra consists in the fact
that it is the only Arthaśastra MS. frcm North India and the only
Devanāgirl MS. of the text tobe foud so far, tha previous printed
editions being baSid only on southern texts. The MS. is, sgiia,
very old. According to Muni Jinavijayaji who has made the MS.
aveilabla ia printed foim, it belongs on palaeographic groind« to
the 12th century A. D. I& is however, a great pity that this old
MS. is available only in frag nents ( Arthaśastra from 1. 1. 4 to 2. 7.
29 and 2. 11-21. 39). There has also been discovered, along with
this fragmentary MS. of the Art In sastra , a very small fragment of
a Sanskrit commentary called Nltinirņld by Ycgghama which Í3
available only from 2. 1. 1. to 2. 4. 1. This commentary which is
also made available by Muni Jinavijayajl in printed form has
also been utilized by the editor of the present edition in the
critical apparatus of the text.
The editor has, besides, utilizad not only the manuscripts which
formed the basis of the printed editions of the Arthaśastra by
R. Shāma Sāsbri and Gaņspati Sāsiiri, and the printed Punjab
elition of J. Jolly and R. Schmidt but has also taken help of the
following cemmentaries in fixing the text : (i ) Bhãsãvyãkhyãna
in Tãmil-Malayalam on three Adhikaraņas published in Trivan-
drum ( 1930-1945 ) ; ( ii ) the Jayamangalä in Sanskrit by Bhiksu
Prabhamati available on'y in a fragment; ( iii ) Nayacandrikã
in Sanskrit by Madhavayajvan, available in fragment which is
printed in the Punjab edition of the text ; ( iv ) the Nitinirņiti
in Sanskrit by Ycgghama already referred to above; ( v ) the
Pratipadapañcika in Sanskrit by Bhattasvämin available only in
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i88 Annais of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
fragment, published in the Journal of the Bihar and Orissa
Research Society Vol. XI and XII (1925-1926 ); and (vi) the
értmüla in Sanskrit by T. Gaņapati Sāstri (1924-25 ). It will be,
therefore, clear that the editor deserves our praÍ3e and gratitude
for having made every effort to utilize as much manuscript and
other material as has been available in the preparation of this
edition which, with the constituted text and with the critical
apparatus in the foot-notes, presents a historical panorama of the
textual critical material concerning the Arthasāstra of Kautalya.
The editor has retained the form 4 Kautily a ' throughout and has
not thought it necessary to refer to the readings every time that
word occurs in the text, though, as he himself remarks, M, ( i. e.,
the southern MS. which formed the basis of T. Gaņapati Sastrťs
edition) and D ( i. e. the important northern MS. discovered in the
Pātaņa Bhandar ) show the form 'Kautalya' in * most places' (in the
words of the editor himself). The principal reason which impelled
him to adopt this form of the name is, as he says, the circumtance
that the authors Bāņa and Visākhadafcta " who are much earlier
in date than any MS. of this text or any available commentary
on it " adopt the form ' Kautilya ' He also points out that J. Jolly
and P. V. Kane hav9 come to the conclusion that Kautily a is
the original form of the name. But in consideration of the norm
of textual criticism wbici U based on the faithful manuscript
evidence, the considerations which have impelled the editor to
adopt the form 4 Kautilya ' appear to be extraneous and not justi-
fied in a critical edition which is supposad to embody textual critical
material based on the collation of the manuscripts. After the
discovery of the Pātaņ folios of the Arthasāstra which write the
name as 4 Kautalya ' one would think that fchere is strong text-
critical evidence in favour of the form * Kautalya '. As one savant,
an authorty in matters of textual criticism, writing on the text of
the Arthasāstra after the discovery of the Pātaņa MS. remarks1: "The
Pātaņa folios resolve thô question by writing the name uniformly
as Kautalya which is also a strong variant in the Mysore edition,
and must be taken hereafter as definitively established. The
change in orthography was due, in all probability, to obsolescence
1 D. D. Kosambi ' The text of the Arthasāstra ' ( Journal of the American
Oriental Society, Vol. 78, number 3, July-September 1958 ).
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Re Vietos 189,
öf thö rarô mame and a faUe derivation from
an adjective that oouid easily be applied to th
from the point of view of later nīti morality
In the case ot words like aparuddha , prahavaņ
editor has adopted these forms of the words m
rity of the northern { Pātaņa) MS. There appear
nil the more reason why he should have adopted
lya' on which the northern and the southern
The editor while mentioning the printed editions of the
Arthaśash-a by Shāma Sāsfcri, T. Gaņapati Sāstri etc. and its tran-
slations, has not given their respective years of publication. In
an Introduction which is, otherwise, an excellent record of
information about the important editions and translations of the
Arthaśaslra , this omission appears to be glaring.
Readers will be grateful to the Editor for the Glossary of
important technical words appended at the end. It will certainly
enhance the usefulness of this edition, especially for scholars
workiûg in different branches of Sanskrit studies. In the references
to the text given in Glossary, it has been found in some cases that
all references have not been mentioned and that the sequence of
earlier and later references has not been maintained -, e» g. vide
under
The Sùtras in every Adhyâya have been prominently numbered
which will certainly facilitate the work of reference to the text.
V. M. Bedekar
THE OXFORD HISTORY OF INDIA: by the late Vincent
A. S.nitb. Third Edition edited by Percival Spear, Oxford
University Press ( 1958 ). pp. xiv. + 898. Price Rs. 27,
The first edition of the Oxford History of India, which was
entirely the work of the late Vincent Smith, wat published in 1919.
It carried the Indian Story down to 1911. The second edition of
the work appeared in 1923. It was revised by S. M. Edwardes
who added a section bringing the record up to 1921.
The present work is the third and the latest edition of Vincent
Smith's history which has been thoroughly revised and supple-
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