Practice question · Multiple choice
The Arthashastra is a manual of spies, taxation and realpolitik; Ashoka’s edicts preach non-violence and moral duty. Why do historians hold both as evidence about Mauryan rule?
Hints
- Ask what each text was FOR, and who was meant to read it.
- A state’s administrative handbook and its public monuments answer different questions.
Show the answer
C. Because prescription and self-presentation are different sources
Why
Neither source is the truth about Mauryan India; each is evidence of a different thing. Reading them as contradictory assumes both were trying to describe the same object.
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