Surunga and the Kautiliya Arthasastra

Summary

This paper responds to Otto Stein’s suggestion that the Sanskrit word suruṅga (‘tunnel’ or ‘mine’) is a loan from the Greek syrinx. The author reviews occurrences of the term in Indian literature and finds it in the Mahābhārata, where the Pāṇḍavas escape through a tunnel, and in Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra, which discusses digging subterranean passages for military attack, burglary and mining. By contrast, the Greek syrinx mainly denotes a reed pipe but occasionally means a tube or channel. Linguistic arguments based on consonant clusters and the interchange of s and ś are considered, and the paper concludes that the forms are too different for direct borrowing. The narrative of the Pāṇḍavas’ tunnel is analysed to show that suruṅga was a commonplace in epic times, though later redactions added miraculous elements. References to tunnels in Jain epics, the Nāṭyaśāstra and Purāṇas further indicate indigenous usage. The author also cites archaeological reports on ancient Indian mines and argues that tunnelling technology was well established. Thus the Indian term likely has Proto‑Indo‑Aryan origins and developed independently of Greek syrinx. The paper suggests that contact with the Hellenistic world may have enriched Indian vocabulary in other ways but that suruṅga is not an instance of such borrowing. It ends by cautioning against over‑enthusiastic attempts to derive Sanskrit words from Greek without strong phonetic or historical evidence.