A Textbook Kautilya's Arthasastra- Timeless Strategies for Modern Governance

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India is a nation with a long civilisational history, with recorded history, cultural artefacts and evidence pointing to more than five millennia of existence. Despite the continuous onslaught of foreign invasions for more than a millennium, the knowledge practices developed by Indians had remained almost intact and were passed on "orally" down the generations. These can be collectively referred to as the Indian Knowledge System (IKS).

Knowledge creation is a continuous process in which society reflects on their experiences, continuedly validates its assumptions, and refines its understanding further with new insights. Expectedly, a country with a long civilisational history is likely to generate a vast amount of knowledge over time. Civilisational wisdom is encoded in a host of literary works as well as in the vibrant oral traditions of this country. The knowledge corpus of India spans across a wide array of subjects including aesthetics, science, engineering, technology, linguistics, architecture, governance, and public administration.

The subject of governance and public administration has received continuous attention in India over several millennia. Extensive discussions in the Mahabharata between Dharmaraja (Yudhisthira) and Bhisma form part of a well-known treatise on governance and public administration. Similarly, issues of governance have been discussed in the Ramayana when Bharata met Rama with a keen desire to persuade him to return to Ayodhya from his vanavasa (exile).

Of the several works on governance and public administration, Kautilya's Arthasastra stands out as a seminal contribution. The Arthasastra is a politico-economic treatise that presents a public administration and governance framework with an assumed model of monarchy. The main issues discussed in the text include statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy. What distinguishes the Arthasastra from several other works is the level of detail with which several issues of governance have been discussed. There are several interesting ideas in the Arthasastra that have a bearing on modern-day governance and public administration. Therefore, the head of any institution, such as the prime minister in a democratic model of governance, or the CEO of a multi-national corporation, could find these guidelines useful.

Ever since the text was discovered in 1905, there has been considerable interest in understanding Kautilya's prescriptions on governance. However, there is a dearth of easily readable material that can benefit scholars at all levels. There is a need to bring out textbooks which can be the basis to teach the principles of Arthasastra in our higher educational institutions. I find this book a timely contribution in this field of study.

Arthasastra is a vast text with over 6000 verses organised into 15 books. It requires skill and acumen to carefully select sections from the book and organise it neatly in the form of a textbook without missing the essence of the work. The authors have made a good effort to identify salient aspects and organise them neatly into four chapters. The authors have provided direct quotes of the verses from Arthasastra while discussing several aspects of governance, wherever required. It brings authenticity to the textbook. Furthermore, this would stimulate the interest of students to explore the text in its original form.

I congratulate the authors for their efforts and hope that students and educational institutions alike will find this work valuable to them.

The journey of creating this book, Kautilya's Arthasastra: Timeless Strategies for Modern Governance, has been both an intellectual endeavour and a collaborative effort involving us, the authors of this book, the IKS Division of the Ministry of Education, and the University Grants Commission. The genesis of this initiative can be traced back to a fundamental need within academia for a more accessible and reader-friendly rendition of Kautilya's Arthasastra. The IKS Division's ambitious Faculty Development Programmes aims at equipping university professors across various disciplines with knowledge pertaining to domains across subjects of Indian Knowledge Systems. One of the selected domains for detailed training was that of Arthasastra. Once that came into the picture, the requirement for reference material for the training highlighted the urgency for creating a reference text that could cater to a broader audience. As these programmes expanded in scope and frequency, it became increasingly evident that there was a pressing need for a comprehensive textbook that could serve not only as a guide for professors and academicians, but also as a valuable resource for scholars, students, and professionals from diverse backgrounds.

The impetus behind the creation of this book was in recognising and addressing the inherent challenges posed by existing resources on Kautilya's Arthasastra. While the original text and available documentaries offer invaluable insights into ancient Indian raja-sastra (akin to statecraft), they often presuppose a fundamental understanding of Sanskrit, which obstructs their access to a wider audience. In addition, translations of the text occasionally aim to capture its nuanced essence, though they may encounter challenges in fully encapsulating its depth or in maintaining the precise context, Likewise, while existing commentaries are highly valuable, they often come from experts specialising in either Sanskrit or contemporary subjects, thereby providing a particular viewpoint. In response to these challenges, we, drawing from diverse backgrounds and expertise, endeavoured to bridge these gaps by presenting a balanced and comprehensive interpretation of Kautilya's Arthasastra.

The design and structure of this book has been meticulously crafted to enhance accessibility and comprehension. Divided into four major chapters, each segment of the Arthasastra is explored in detail, accompanied by visual aids, clear learning objectives, relevant ślokas (verses), contemporary examples, and scenario-building exercises. By incorporating contemporary illustrations and real-world applications, this book sets out to elucidate the relevance and applicability of Kautilya's teachings in modern contexts, thereby making the text engaging and relatable to readers. For instance, every categorisation has been depicted through a pictorial depiction to break monotony and enhance clarity (types of durgas or forts, types of marriages, etc.). Moreover, certain visual depictions have been curated as models for the reader's understanding, including how the town planning could have looked like, based on directions in the treatise, the rajamandala in a mandala arrangement, etc. Contemporary examples that make the text more readable and relatable have been added in every possible section, ranging from means and ways of taxation, to training and vetting of official appointments, to warfare scenarios and foreign policy choices. Where contemporary examples were insufficient for elucidating the text, hypothetical scenarios have been created in describing policy choices.