Why did Megasthenese declare that there was no slavery in India?

The correct answer is B. Megasthenes, as preserved in Arrian's Indica and Strabo, wrote that every Indian is free and no Indian is a slave. The Greek observer was comparing India with Greek and Persian practice, where captives and debtors were commonly enslaved. Historians read his claim as a sign that Indian bondage was milder and more restricted. It was not the absence of servitude.

• A is wrong: His statement was a generalisation about institutions, not a claim about what he personally observed.
• C is wrong: The Arthashastra does discuss dasa (slaves) in detail, including categories of bondage and how they arise. It regulates slavery and bars enslaving Aryans, but it does not abolish it.
• D is wrong: Varnashrama did not bar slavery. Shudras were treated as servile, and the dharmashastra literature recognised various forms of bondage.

The core concept is the difference between Greek chattel slavery and the Indian dasa system, which was tied to status and law rather than a market in outsiders. This links to Mains GS-I on ancient social structure and to how foreign accounts must be read critically.

Trap: Taking Megasthenes at face value and concluding that India had no bondage at all. The question wants the reason he gave, which is a comparative and impressionistic view.