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In The Mauryan Polity the author has examined the extent and char-acter of the Mauryan Empire its central administration and local and provincial governments and concludes with a chapter on religion in the Mauryan State. He also has shown the similarity in the inscriptions in Asoka’s edicts and Kau_tiliyan polity by comparing the two. By way of new interpretations suggested for different terms and passages of the edicts the author holds that one can reconstruct the political history of Asoka and his predecessors and based on such reconstruction he has attempted to establish the character of the government of that era. The work is an amplification of five lectures delivered by the author at the University of Madras in 1929-30. The volume is based on three main sources: Arthashastra by Kau_tilya inscriptions on Asoka’s edicts and the surviving fragments of Megasthenes’ work Indika. The author has critically examined the authenticity of his three main sources of information and maintains that Kau_tilya’s work and Asoka’s edicts are highly reliable; the fragments of Megasthenes’ work have been used to supplement the primary sources. The author has referred to several other sources such as translations by McCrindle and Cowell and Thomas and others; journals and reports including those of the ASI of the Bombay Historical Society of the Royal Asiatic Society of both London and Bengal among numerous others; as well as several works that include those of Buhler K.V.R. Aiyangar Vincent Smith Cunningham Sir Henry Maine Rapson and others. About the Author Vishnampet R. Ramachandra Dikshitar (1896-1953) was a historian and Indologist from Tamil Nadu. He was a professor of history and archaeology in the University of Madras.
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