The dependence of Manu's seventh chapter on Kautilya's Arthas̈a¯stra

Indeterminacy in dating and elusive modes of intertextuality often confound attempts to establish reliable relative chronologies for classical South Asian texts. Occasionally, however, the relationship between two texts clearly reveals the dependence of one upon the other. Such is the case for the Arthas̈a¯stra of Kautilya and the Ma¯nava Dharmas̈a¯stra, arguably the two most important classical treaties on law and statecraft Close reading of the two reveals a direct relationship wherein the seventh adhya¯ya ("chapter") of the Ma¯nava Dharmas̈a¯stra took its general structure and most of its material from the Arthas̈a¯stra.The clarification of this general relationship makes possible an appreciation of the manner in which Manu appropriated material from Kautilya's treatise and allows us to draw new conclusions and raise new questions about the intellectual and cultural history of the period.