Page:The Maurayan Polity.djvu/7

 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The Mauryan polity was first published by the Univer- sity of Madras in 1932. The lapse of two decades since then has not however compelled any substantial change in the pre- sent edition of the book for no new material on the subject has come to light. The present edition was undertaken by the University of Madras to meet the growing demand for the book since it went out of stock so early as 1938. It was con- sidered useful to add as appendices to the present edition two papers of the author, one on the unsecularity of the Arthasās- tra and the other on Kautalya's Imperialism both of which embody the author's original views. I am thankful to Dr. T. V. Mahalingam, Reader in the Department for helping me in the publication of this edition. I am profoundly grateful to the University of Madras in recognising the need for the present edition in response to the demands of research scholars in the field and sanctioning its publication. University Buildings, Madras-5 1st August, 1953. } V. R. R. DIKSHITAR.