THE NITIPRAKASIKA. 



The Nitiprakasika or " expounder of polity " is ascribed Introduc- 

 to Vaisampayana, the pupil of Vyasa. This Vaisampayana remarks, 

 is also connected with the Yajurveda and with the Mahabha- 

 rata, which he is said to have recited to the king Janamejaya 

 at Taksasila. In its contents, the Nitiprakasika coincides in 

 many points with the Ramayana, especially with its first two 

 books ; but the reader is also often reminded of the Maha- 

 bharata and the Harivamsa. The latter part of the Nitipra- 

 kasika contains also passages which may be found in works 

 on law and on polity, as in the Manavadharmasastra and the 

 Kamandakiya. 



The fact that the same passages occur in different works 

 by no means proves that the passages in one work have been 

 borrowed from another, especially if we have reason to 

 suppose that there existed a period, when, the text of early 

 compositions being still unsettled, many dicta were regarded as 

 public property, and were, as such, embodied in various texts. 



The principal part of the Nitiprakasika is that comprising 

 the Dhanurveda, and this, as far as I know, in a form more 

 complete than any other work ; the four chapters in the 

 Agnipurana (248-251) being very defective when compared 

 in this respect with the Nitiprakasika. 



