R. Shamasastry
Topic: The Mauryan Empire · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
R. Shamasastry was a librarian at the Oriental Research Institute in Mysore. In 1905 he found a palm-leaf manuscript of Kautilya's Arthashastra, which had been lost to scholars for centuries. He published the text, and his English translation appeared in 1915. This made the Mauryan theory of statecraft available to modern historians for the first time.
Example
Thanks to Shamasastry's find, historians could study the Arthashastra's saptāṅga ("seven limbs") theory of the state. It also showed them Kautilya's detailed laws against corruption and his rule that the land tax should generally be one-sixth of the produce.
Don't confuse with
- James Prinsep: an East India Company mint officer who deciphered the Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts in the 1830s. That let scholars read Ashoka's inscriptions. Shamasastry recovered a text, the Arthashastra.
Related concepts
- Ashokan edicts
- Piyadassi
- Kandahar bilingual inscription
- Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra edicts
- Maski edict
- Girnar rock edict
- Sohgaura copper plate
- Mahasthan inscription