Mysuru: The lecture series on Kautilya’s Arthashastra, organised by Parampare, Mysuru, began at Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha on JLB Road here last evening.

Inaugurating the programme, Legal Expert and writer Dr. C.K.N. Raja opined that the policies and rules enforced during the reign of ancient rulers were relevant only during that period and should not be compared to different periods.

He said that such policies and rules when applied to present day would totally distort the meaning. He hence asked researchers to exercise caution while reviewing the economic policies of Kautilya.

Speaking on the occasion,  Sanskrit Scholar Dr. H.V. Nagaraja Rao disclosed that palm scripts of Kautilya’s Arthashastra were collected by a scholar from Tanjavur and handed over to Oriental Research Institute (ORI) in Mysuru. He said that the script resembled Tamil though it was in Sanskrit. Later in 1909, Vid. Shamashastri brought out the rare finding in original Sanskrit which was acclaimed the best by scholars all over the country and later on in 1915 was translated to English and Shamashastri became world famous, he explained.

Continuing, Nagaraja Rao said that when Shamashastri was the curator of ORI, he published over 25 publications and was awarded Ph.D by Oriental University in USA in 1919. He recalled that when Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar visited Germany, he (Wadiyar) had met the Vice-Chancellor of a German University. Wadiyar was questioned by the VC whether the former belonged to the place of Shamashastri. Wadiyar returned to Mysore, invited Shamashastri and felicitated the great scholar, recalled Nagaraja Rao.

Scholar Dr. Venkatachala Shastri and others were present.

Today, lecture on ‘Discovery of Manuscript, Shamashastri’s contribution and contents of Arthashastra’ will be delivered by  Dr. T.V. Satyanarayana, retired Dy. Director of ORI, from 6 pm to 8 pm.