Arthashastra

Arthashastra
16th century Arthashastra manuscript in Grantha script kept at the Oriental Research Institute, Mysore
16th century Arthashastra manuscript in Grantha script kept at the Oriental Research Institute, Mysore
Information
ReligionHinduism
AuthorKautilya
LanguageSanskrit
Period3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE
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Arthashastra at English Wikisource
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The Arthashastra (Sanskrit: अर्थशास्त्रम्, IAST: Arthaśāstram; transl. Economics) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy.[1][2][3] Chanakya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Kautilya, is traditionally credited as the author of the text.[4][5] Chanakya was a scholar at Taxila, the teacher and guardian of Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya.[6] Some scholars believe the three to be the same person,[7] while a few have questioned this identification.[8][9] The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries.[10] Composed, expanded and redacted between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE,[11] the Arthashastra was influential until the 12th century,[12] when it disappeared. It was rediscovered in 1905 by R. Shamasastry, who published it in 1909.[13] The first English translation, also by Shamasastry, was published in 1915.[14]

The Sanskrit title, Arthashastra, can be translated as "political science" or "economic science" or simply "statecraft",[15][16] as the word artha (अर्थ) is polysemous in Sanskrit;[17] the word has a broad scope.[18] It includes books on the nature of government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics, markets and trade, the methods for screening ministers, diplomacy, theories on war, nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of a king.[19][20][21] The text incorporates Hindu philosophy,[22] includes ancient economic and cultural details on agriculture, mineralogy, mining and metals, animal husbandry, medicine, forests and wildlife.[23]

The Arthashastra explores issues of social welfare, the collective ethics that hold a society together, advising the king that in times and in areas devastated by famine, epidemic and such acts of nature, or by war, he should initiate public projects such as creating irrigation waterways and building forts around major strategic holdings and towns and exempt taxes on those affected.[24] The text was influenced by Hindu texts such as the sections on kings, governance and legal procedures included in Manusmriti.[25][26]

  1. ^ Roger Boesche (2002). The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra. Lexington Books. p. 7. ISBN 978-0739104019. [...] is classically expressed in Indian literature in the Arthashastra of Kautilya
    Siva Kumar, N.; Rao, U. S. (April 1996). "Guidelines for value based management in Kautilya's Arthashastra". Journal of Business Ethics. 15 (4): 415–423. doi:10.1007/BF00380362. S2CID 153463180. The paper develops value based management guidelines from the famous Indian treatise on management, Kautilya's Arthashastra.
  2. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 1–5.
  3. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 24–25, 31.
  4. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 1, 34–35.
  5. ^ Mabbett (1964): "References to the work in other Sanskrit literature attribute it variously to Viṣṇugupta, Cāṇakya and Kauṭilya. The same individual is meant in each case. The Pańcatantra explicitly identifies Chanakya with Viṣṇugupta."
  6. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 31–38.
  7. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 32–33.
  8. ^ Mabbett (1964);
    Trautmann (1971, p. 10): "while in his character as author of an arthaśāstra he is generally referred to by his gotra name, Kauṭilya;"
    Trautmann (1971, p. 67): "T. Burrow... has now shown that Cāṇakya is also a gotra name, which in conjunction with other evidence makes it clear that we are dealing with distinct persons, the minister Cāṇakya of legend and Kautilya the compiler of Arthaśāstra.
  9. ^ Rao & Subrahmanyam (2013): "The confident initial assertion that the text’s author was 'the famous Brahman Kautilya, also named Vishnugupta, and known from other sources by the patronymic Chanakya', and that the text was written at the time of the foundation of the Maurya dynasty, has of course been considerably eroded over the course of the twentieth century."
  10. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 24–25, 31–33.
  11. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 30–31.
  12. ^ Rathanasara, Kaudagammana (February 2023). "An example of the use of Indian political theories in ancient Sri Lanka (Related to the reign of King Parakramabahu I)". International Conference on Vedic Jurisprudence & Its Impact on Contemporary World.
  13. ^ Allen, Charles (21 February 2012). Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor. London: Hachette UK. ISBN 9781408703885. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  14. ^ Boesche 2002, p. 8
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Boesche 2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 14, 330: "The title Arthaśāstra is found only in the colophons, in three verses 5.6.47, 7.10.38 and 7.18.42", (page 14) and "Prosperity and decline, stability and weakening, and vanquishing — knowing the science of politics [अर्थशास्त्र, arthaśāstra], he should employ all of these strategies." (page 330)
  17. ^ "Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary 1899 Advanced". www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  18. ^ Rangarajan, L.N. (1987). The Arthashastra (Introduction). New Delhi: Penguin Books. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9788184750119. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  19. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 1–62, 179–221.
  20. ^ Sen, R.K. and Basu, R.L. 2006. Economics in Arthashastra. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications.
  21. ^ Thomas Trautmann (2012), Arthashastra: The Science of Wealth, Penguin, ISBN 978-0670085279, pages xxv-27
  22. ^ R. Chadwick; S. Henson; B. Moseley (2013). Functional Foods. Springer Science. p. 39. ISBN 978-3-662-05115-3. During the same period, an ancient Hindu text (the Arthashastra) included a recipe...
    Arvind Sharma (2005). Modern Hindu Thought: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-19-567638-9. Arthasastra, the major surviving Hindu text on polity, attributed to Chanakya (also known as Kautilya)...
    Stephen Peter Rosen (1996). Societies and Military Power: India and Its Armies. Cornell University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0801432101. The most important single text in Hindu political philosophy is Kautilya's Arthasastra [...]
  23. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 122–175.
  24. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 101, 228–229, 286–287.
  25. ^ Olivelle 2013, pp. 29, 52.
  26. ^ Olivelle, Patrick (June 2004). "Manu and the Arthaśāstra, A Study in Śāstric Intertextuality". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 32 (2/3): 281–291. doi:10.1023/B:INDI.0000021078.31452.8a. JSTOR 23497263. S2CID 170873274.