Absolutely! You worded my exact thoughts. After reading these references, that is the conclusion I have reached so far too, that even if the exact quote is cited in - let us say - vR^ddha chANakya - that does not mean its origin was viSNugupta.
one, such collections were not made by viSNugupta himself, except for probably 3 known collections which he himself made containing "shaT-sahastraNi shlokaNi" 6000 shlokas on nIti (artha, daNDa, rAja related) he certainly was known to have composed. Therefore somebody much after him composed these collections, and we can not say if only from the origins with chANakya. And even in arthashAstra, he acknowledges the source to be the (oral traditions of) past masters and ancestors!
second, even in these chANakya-s we do know there are sayings that originated from sources like mahAbhArata and some upanisada-s. In fact in the papers you have provided, it recognizes a good chunk coming from other earlier sources.
So we do go back to square one....on tracing the origin of who first uttered the original verbiage of VK. Probably some upanisada. About the idea being present from very old times. Yes that is true. But I also have some different thoughts and shall come back with a detailed response later on. Again thanks for your inputs.
one, such collections were not made by viSNugupta himself, except for probably 3 known collections which he himself made containing "shaT-sahastraNi shlokaNi" 6000 shlokas on nIti (artha, daNDa, rAja related) he certainly was known to have composed. Therefore somebody much after him composed these collections, and we can not say if only from the origins with chANakya. And even in arthashAstra, he acknowledges the source to be the (oral traditions of) past masters and ancestors!
second, even in these chANakya-s we do know there are sayings that originated from sources like mahAbhArata and some upanisada-s. In fact in the papers you have provided, it recognizes a good chunk coming from other earlier sources.
So we do go back to square one....on tracing the origin of who first uttered the original verbiage of VK. Probably some upanisada. About the idea being present from very old times. Yes that is true. But I also have some different thoughts and shall come back with a detailed response later on. Again thanks for your inputs.