The wealth of factual information that the second book of the Kauṭilīya, named the activity of the Heads of Departments (adhyakṣapracāra), contains confronts every interpreter with the basic issue regarding its veracity. Is it a compilation of facts derived from practical experience and assembled for carrying out normal duties, or only a collection of theories bred in ethereal scholarly retreats and without contact with the realities of life? It has been commonly believed that these issues could be resolved by solving the question whether the author was a great states-man, who later in life surrounded by his advisors recorded the essence of his experience, or whether he was a politically insignificant ivory tower scholar, lacking real experience with the world. The character of the Kauṭilīya as a textbook and compendium precludes, however, such a simple solution. Because this work consists of heterogeneous components, arcane school wisdom is interspersed with practical experience, free speculation side by side sober information. Only a meticulous analysis of the content enables one to determine the value of the different sections.

By no means can such an analysis rely exclusively on the philological exegesis. It must try to comprehend the cultural phenomena that the text presents from multiple perspectives. In the following pages I examine the chapter regarding the building of defensive structures (KA. 2,3), considered the most difficult and obscure of the second book.