Review

Reviewed Work(s): Kautilya and the Arthasastra: A Statistical Investigation of the

Authorship and Evolution of the Text. by Thomas R. Trautmann
Review by: J. W. Spellman
Source: The Journal of Asian Studies , Aug., 1972, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Aug., 1972), pp. 966-
967
Published by: Association for Asian Studies

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2052148

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Association for Asian Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to The Journal of Asian Studies

This content downloaded from

47.31.191.19 on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:04:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 966 JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

implying. We haveofthings gruel or hotcakes tolessonlearn

of capturingfrom
a
because they are doing different things with kingdom through village support, and the
the same kinship data. meeting of Candragupta and Alexander.
The final two contributions to this issue of These other legends are minutely examined
Contributions are in the nature of reviews for clues to determine historical accuracy. This
and commentaries. Behari L. Abbi discusses is a frustrating task and Trautmann becomes
the studies of urban family by Ross (The impatient with "lame etymologies," "rounda-
Hindu loint Family in its Urban Setting), bout ways of doing things" and the lack of
Desai (Some Aspects of Family in Mahura) valid reasons for conduct. He concludes that
and Gore (Urbanization and Family Change). the Jain version is "superior" to the Pali
His main concern seems to be that students version as well as older.
of the Indian family must not too readily But legends have their own validity re-
assume that the joint family is disappearing, sponding to different adaptations and it may
a point that has been made enough times by be as inappropriate for the historian to insist
now as to make it almost a cliche. Detlef such legends fit into his procrustean analysis of
Kantowsky's "Sociology of Developing Socie- consistency, time sequence and historical ac-
ties" is an appeal not to allow the creation of a curacy as for the astronauts to analyze the
a separate sub-discipline called "sociology of moon of the poet. Although it is true that
developing societies. . . ." He regards it as a some scholars have supported political inter-
tragedy if sociological inquiries in developing pretations on the basis of statements found in
countries fail "to make their relevance clear the Mudrdrdksasa, Trautmann is correct
not only in regard to practical problems but when he says that the greater part of the
also to theoretical problems of the social sci- play is "invention" (p. 43). Professor Traut-
ences in general" (p. I3I). mann's competence in Greek, Latin and Sans-
HAROLD A. GOULD krit has facilitated his analysis of the construc-
University of Illinois tion to be placed upon a number of classical
historical anecdotes. His scholarship is pain-
staking and in some places even brilliant. In
Kautilya and the Arthasastra: A Statistical
any case, the primary author of the Arthas'Js-
Investigation of the Authorship and Evo-
tra is to be distinguished from C.nakya, the
lution of the Text. BY THOMAS R. TRAUT-
minister of Candragupta Maurya.
MANN. Leiden: E. J. Brill, I97I. Xviii, 227 The story of the various methods used by
pp. Appendix, Bibliography, Index. 42 Du. Dr. Trautmann to establish a statistical basis
guilders.
for analysing the authorship of the Artha-
This book is in the finest tradition of schol- s1astra makes interesting reading. These in-
arship. It makes clear and original contribu- volve computer studies of sentence length,
tions to our knowledge of ancient Indian compound length and most significant, analy-
politics through an incisive analysis of aspects sis of the frequency of words most commonly
of the Arthasistra, one of the most important used such as ca, evam, tatra, va, and eva.
political texts of ancient India. The Table of Trautmann concludes that "three hands are
Contents masks an exciting detective hunt to discernible in the Arthaidstra: one of them
determine whether indeed Kautilya or Cana- responsible for Book 2, dealing with the in-
kya, the minister of Candragupta Maurya, or ternal administration of the kingdom, one
someone else wrote this text. responsible for Book 3, a kind of dharmasmrti
The first few sections of the book examine dealing with law, and the third responsible for
the Pali, Jain, Kashmiri and Classical Hindu Book 7, concerning the struggle for power
and Greek versions of the relationships be- between states" (p. ii8). The distinguising
tween Candragupta, Canakya, the Nandas, features of the other books are less certain,
and Alexander. These include the legends of but Trautmann suggests some tentative cor-
Canakya being offended by the Nandas, the relations. An added bonus of this book is an
Nandas offended by Canakya, the liaison examination of the various hands involved
between Canakya and Candragupta, the pot in the authorship of the Kdmasz7tra and here

This content downloaded from

47.31.191.19 on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:04:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 BOOK REVIEWS 967

too we see that there are distinctly different states that are not primarily organized in
styles involved. Some of these are clearly the terms of kinship and a cyclical pattern by
work of Vtasyayana but others suggest the means of which the eventual weakening
stamp of other authors. It will take more and collapse of the state leads to a periodic
research before we can date with any accuracy rebirth and strengthening of kinship based
the various books of the Arthalstlra but there organizations.
can now be no doubt that the entire work is Fox's theoretical speculations are illustrated
not the work of a single author and its direct by a relatively small number of cases and
relationship with the Mauryan empire is examples taken from the available historical
certainly suspect. materials concerning the Rajput "clans" of
This pioneering study is unquestionably a Northern India. There is a classification of
major contribution although its long term Rajput lineages and "clans"; a discussion of
implications are yet to be determined. Althoughthe developmental cycle which they appear to
we should not emphasize structure, author follow in their relationships to rajas and
or chronology at the expense of the rasa of states; and a brief discussion of the possible
Indian texts or events, ancient or modern, if role played by similar kin-based organizations
we utilize research such as this to assist a fuller in the development of states in other parts of
understanding of the civilization of India, we the world.
shall all benefit. This work of Professor The essence of the argument is that some
Trautmann will rank as one of the major Rajput lineages increase in size as a result of
Indological studies of recent years. territorial expansion and population increase.
J. W. SPELLMAN As they become larger, they become increas-
University of Windsor ingly stratified and increasingly less dependent
for their organization upon kinship principles.
As the "clan" becomes the state, or perhaps
Kin, Clan, Raja and Rule: State-Hinterland
the principality, the "clan" raja or the ruling
Relations in Preindustrial India. By RICH-
lineage within the "clan," becomes increasingly
ARD G. Fox. Berkeley: University of Cali-
dependent upon mercenaries and other non-
fornia Press, I97I. I87 pp. Bibliography,
members of the clan with a consequent de-
Index, Illustrations. $8.oo.
cline in the importance of the kin-based or-
As tribes become states or as societies in- ganizations from which they originally drew
crease in size and complexity, it has always their power and influence. Having created
seemed reasonable to suppose that the poten- the state, the "clan" withers away only to
tialities for social organization inherent in emerge again when the state completes its
groupings based upon real or imagined kinship own developmental cycle and its central au-
ties would eventually become exhausted. New thority begins to wither away.
forms of social organization would then arise, Although Fox is at some pains to point out
quite often having the effect of reducing the alternative "minor sequence" patterns for the
importance of kinship as an organizing prin- rise and fall of "clans," less attention is paid to
ciple in society. So long as problems such as alternative patterns of state development. The
the origin of the state or the disappearance theory could be more elaborate and more sys-
of the clan are viewed in terms of type-societies tematic in its treatment of these matters. Fox
or evolutionary stages, the problems of how repeatedly indicates an awareness of the im-
one kind of society might develop out of portance of factors external to the political
another kind or of how one kind of society process, such as environment and demog-
might interact with another kind tend to be raphy, but the role of these factors in contrib-
obscured. uting to the rise and fall of states and "clans"
The special virtue of the "preliminary and is never discussed in depth. In Fox's analysis,
speculative analysis" presented by Richard Fox "clans" arise and states become powerful per-
is that it suggests a kind of "main sequence" haps because they have skillful leadership,
evolutionary pattern by means of which kin- perhaps by chance, perhaps due to organiza-
ship based organization might give rise to tional innovations, almost never because they

This content downloaded from

47.31.191.19 on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:04:54 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms