B00K REVIEW ON ARTHASHASTRA BY KAUTILYA

Arthashastra is the work of Kautilya,a man who helped king chandragupta to establish the first centralised empire in ancient india,known as Maurya empire.Though there have been doubts about the the authorship of the arthashastra but majority of scholars are unanimous about Arthashastra being a work of Kautilya. Kautilyas early life is not much known,evaluating historical sources,historians conclude that he was a kerala Brahmin.Another source states he was a north Indian Brahmin educated in the famous university town of Taxila,who some found himself in the nanda court of Patliputra.It is said that Nanda king Dhana nanda once insulted Kautilya ordering him to leave a feast after he had started eating.The incenced Kautilya vowed not to tie his forelock knot again until he destroys the nanda dynasty.And kept his vow by making Chandragupta attack and win the war against the nanda dynasty. Kautolya is mainly known for his work Arthashastra,which literaray means the science of wealth.But here in Kautilyas sense artha has a much wider significance than wealth.Kautilya considers that the wealth of a nation is both the territory and its inhabitants(human capital) and material well being of individual is a part of it.artha is all embracing term which includes material well being,livelihood,economic product activity,agriculture,cattle rearing and trade,so in general it iswealth of a nation as wealth is prerequisite to run a nation or say a government properly thusthe science of politics.it is the art of governance in its widest sense. Arthashastra was written in 300 bc by kautilya but the original was missing,it came in to the hands of R.Shamasastry of mysore only in 1904.he also translated it into english.Another scholar R.P Kangle of university of bombay devoted many years in comparing various texts and translations.his monumental three volume edition of Arthashastra was first published between 1965-66.The latest version edited by Dr.L.N.Rangarajan published in 1992.I select Rangarajans edition of Arthashastra for my review because comparing it to Shamashastrys translation which was last published in 1929 is in a way archaic in nature.further,since 1929 much work has been done by scholars on Arthashastra to fathom its meaning in other various lenses so the latter works are more comprehensible making Shamashastrys work monotonous and arcane in nature.another translation is of R.P.Kangle which voluminous because of frequent use of footnotes,almost half of every page,which makes it more a work for scholarly oriented people rather than for the average readers who simply want to understand Arthashastra.other reasons for choosing Rangrajans translation are its simplicity of language and easy availability in market place. Kautilya witnessed 300BC and being a wise man he identified the nature of politics in a realist manner.Many people regard Arthashastra a book on conducting war and war techniques in unethical manner,surely war and its policies are part of Arthashastra but a careful reading of the book clarifies that its scope is much larger than envisaged by many people.other than war and its policies,Arthashastra

deals with administration,law,order,justice,revenue,expendeture and foreign policies,which I will discuss later in this very review.I will review the book chapter wise to make it less cumbersome for the readers.For anyone who wants to undestand Arthashastra,it is advised to gain knowledge of the state and society of that time and perhaps this is the reason Rangarajan puts the section dealing with state and society just after the introductory part of the his translation,as mentioned by Rangrajan kautilyan society was divided in to Aryan and non Aryan people, who had tasks to performs respective to their castes.Condition of city and villages,economic activities,conditon of women and forms of entertainments are described,special stress is given to economic activities as agriculture,cattle rearing and trade to generate resourses in the forms of grains,cattle,gold,forest products as using these a king obtains a treasury and an army,which are then used to bring under his control both his own people and the people of the enemy(1.4.2.2).Studying this part of Arthashastra one can hardly miss the visionary aspect of the book as it is quite obvious that military maintenance requires huge sum of money.Arthashastra tells how treasury is necessary for public works and to maintain an army thus to run a government properly. Its next chapter provides an exhaustive and scholarly details about the king,his responsibilities,duties regarding administration.Kautilya starts the chapter devoted to king from his adolesence,how a prince(would be king) should be trained for his future post of a king.Kautilya advocates early education for a prince varying from alphabets to arithmetic and in later years he should learn vedas and philosophy.He further advocates teachings of economic activities from the experts and martial arts must be part of the training.Kautilyas aim to provide good education is to instill a king with self control and discipline as he believes that only a wise,displined and devoted king will enjoy the ruling unopposed.In this regard he makes a time table for king from sun rise to sun set.He seems to belive that a displined king makes his cancellers disciplined too as a devoted king will also check their activities and misconducts could bring punishment to corrupt ones.A kings security,selection of security guards and importance of an emergency exit for kings security are also described.He warns king of internal revolts and dealing with it firstly with offering gifts to the rebel leader.Here its relevence in modern times is very clear,we see how the modern governments offer financial assistance and material well being to rebel groups in exchange of their guns.This visionary aspect of Arthashastra gains more takers for its wisdom. Next chapter of Rangrajans translation of Arthashastra revolves around the elements of a well organised state.This wide range includes scientific and strategic construction of forts,roads and capital city;appointment of ministers,investigation of their loyalities towards king and seeking their advices in state matters. Economy is the back bone of a well organised state,Kautilya gives importance to agriculture,industry and trade.Kautilya while describe the agriculture keeps an eye on condition of rainfall,on crop production,irrigation and natural calamity;dealing with industry Kautilya mentions labor charge,incentives to labours,adultration and its punishment;dealing with trade the marketing system which is by and large akin to modern marketing system as he describes commodities and products shall not be sold in the places of their production but brought into the city and sold after payment of duty(2.22.9).this kind of marketing system encourages production and material well being of labors

involved in the production and todays marketing supports this form of marketing,he further deals with imports and exports,selling goods through agents thus advocates a practical and sophisticated form of controlling the economy to obtain the goal of achieving a well organized state. Next chapter concerns for treasury and sources of revenve,to know the importance of treasury and revenve in Kautilyan state can be envisaged by this particular verse of arthashastra.all state activities depend first on the treasury,therefore,a king shall devote his best attention to it.(2.8.1,2).Kautilya,knowing the importance of treasury advices the king to keep treasury under his own control and accumulation of wealth is necessary to survive in case of calamity so this way for the public welfare,again a sign of good governance.He mentions also the revenue obtained from mining,from forest products;from leisure activities(betting,prostitution and gambling).Kautilya supports the department wise administration policy.He mentions more than thirty three departments and their heads ranging from chief controller of gambling,suprintendant of jails to chief controller of shipping and ports. The purpose of dividing state affairs in their respective departments is clearly to avoid complexities of implementing rules and regulations which bar the public welfare in various ways. Next chapter describes laws and justice in detailed manner.Laws and justice are essential in functioning of a state.in Kautilyan society the source of laws was based on dharma,local customs,evidence and royal edicts,which covers marital laws,inheritance laws,loans and deposit laws,property laws,contract,labour and penel system among many others to run a government properly.Here punishment system based on Varna seems a bit unjust as if a person ofinferior varnahas sexual relation with an unprotected Brahmin women;the lower the Varna the higher punishment the person gets.though evaluating the social system of that time when caste system was prevailing, the system had been accepted by every Verna of society but surely it can be cited as a critique of Arthashastra in a way. Next chapter talks about the covert activities,kautilya highly recommends the use of spies and agents to achieve favorable results for the state. He advocates use of women agents as well for clandestine activities.he believes thatmiraculous results can be achieved by practicing the methods of subversion(13.1.21).in kautilyan society such agents were everywhere both inside the country and in foreign land.The agents could disguise themselves as ordinary citizen,holymen,merchants,barbers, attendents,and shampooers.Kautilya advocates creating the secret with variety of spies involving in various covert activities,double agents were also part of secret service which can be regarded as the highest form of deception so most effective mainly dealing with foreign affairs.He also includes methods of killing of a person by administering poison in his food or drink by an agent.Here dealing with covert operations Kautilyan methods are highly relevant to modern day secret activities be it use of agents and double agents in first and second world wars and then during cold war or CIAs alleged involvement in attempts to kill Fiedel Castro or Mosads killing spree of Islamic militants involved in Munich Olympic massacre.though for many people such methods may be immoral but one must keep in mind that Arthashastra is not a book on morality.it is on Realpolitik,where end defines the means and because this nature of the book Max Weber called Machiavellis Princeharmlesscompared to Arthashastra. Next chapter of Arthashastra deals with foreign policy of the state.In this chapter Kautilya gives a famous and interesting Mandala theory which saysan immediate neighboring state is an enemy and a

neighbors neighbor separated from oneself by the intervening enemy,is a friend.This theory too bears relevance in modern state system to a very good extent but not necessarily always,seeing the condition of our country India and its with neighboring state Pakistan and China this theory speaks for itself but it is not true in case of the US and Canada who are immediate neighbors but share a cordial relation and many Western European state are also in very good relation despite being immediate neighbors. But it does not refute this theory totally as it still Mandala theory carries its own significance.Kautilya further describes six methods for a king on how to make foreign policies that would bind other rulers by the chains of his intellect.these methods are applicable in different circumstances depending upon there relevance. 1)Making Peace-entering in to agreement with other rulars.2)Waging War-attacking the enemy if the attacker is superior in might.3)Staying Quite-remaining neutral when a king knows that he and his enemy both are equally strong and war would be futile,remaining quite is advised.4)Preapering for War-augmentation of ones own power.5)Seeking Support-making allies in order to intimidate enemy.6)Dual Policy-it is peace with one king and war with other with the help of the former. These policies propounded by kutilya in arthashastra carries relevance today as examining the policies of modern states,we find,states practising one or other methods describes here.He also includes effective use of troops,chariots,elephants and horses in the last chapter which isDefence and War.kautilya puts stress on good health and high morale of soldiers. Kautilya hardly seems to miss any critical aspect of realist form of politics.He would have analyzed all the political events of that society before writing the Arthashastra.Arthashastra as mentioned already,bears great relevance even in modern times.In this regard my understanding of Arthashastra revealed me that Kautilya understood very well the importance of manpower or human resource much earlier than other scholars.Arthashastra advocates effective use of man power be it creation of army, administration or other economic activities.In modern if we see the example of Japan, who virtually has no or very little natural resources,its cities totally destroyed in second world war, still one of the most prosperous countries in the world and plays a key role in the international arena. The reason is Japans effective use of human capital which,even in absence of other natural resources, makes Japan an example for other countries to follow. this example once again proves the wisdom of Kautilya. Arthashastra written back in 300 BC much before the Machiavelli and Sun Tzu gives us a practical and comprehensive knowledge of ancient Indian political life. Kautilya not just recognized the political problems of that era but also gives the solution of those problems in a practical way this feature of the Arthashastra makes it a must read for all the academics and students of related genre including myself.