Contemporaneous with the legal literature of this period is the works of Kautilya (1) and Vatsyayana. The Artha Sastra of Kautilya records contemporary legal opinion of the 4^th century B.C., outside the schools of Law. Some scholars, like Hillebrandt, would have it that the book does not belong to a particular author, but to a school existing in that name.

Their argument is mainly based on the occurrence of Iti Kautilya 72 times in the book. This doubt in regard to authorship has been met by others, but to a close examination of the internal and external evidence has cleared such doubts to some extent.

However, Kautilya was the Minister of the historical King Chandra Gupta, and, as such, his work provides, evidence of the society of his times. He lived at a time when the schools of law were progressing in the South, and his descriptions of conditions and laws are more reminiscent of the atmosphere of Northern India and especially of the courts of kings.