This work establishes the need for relevance of Kautilya's Arthasastra to contemporary security studies. The paper provides an overview and an update of various academic and scholarly controversies on its age and authorship, and also on the misperceptions which abound on Kautilya himself.
In this monograph, the Arthasastra framework is used for examination of dynamics of fragility in South Asia, with a case study of Pakistan. The insights into human policy choices which can be gleaned from the treatise have a timeless quality that can offer a fresh perspective to today’s policy makers. It can be open to further academic investigation and debate for developing and enriching an indigenous strategic vocabulary.
In order to make a work relevant, scholarly attempts to study the text such as Kautilya’s Arthashastra, and then critically apply it to explain, compare and understand contemporary issues is necessary. This monograph intends to fulfil this aim in a small way.
This monograph engages with and explores the concepts of dharma and artha in Kautilya's Arthashastra and also the Mahabharata, and provides a few contemporary examples.
This study compares Indian traditions of statecraft in Kamandaka’s Nitisara, or the Elements of Polity, with the earlier foundational root text of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. There are commonalities, dissimilarities and uniqueness in the texts. However, key values and concepts across time do not seem to have changed and remain relevant even today.
India has a live, longstanding, and multiple traditions of secular texts and treatise on statecraft, not only in Sanskrit but also in Dravidian traditions in Tamil. For a total picture of Indian civilization and culture there is need to explore texts other than just Sanskrit. In this category there is a powerful and compact text in Tamil from south India called the Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar, also known as the Kural.
Kamandaka’s Nitisara was composed after the classic and the only surviving root text of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Both the texts are important milestones in Indic heritage and tradition of political science. They share many fundamental and enduring similarities in concepts and vocabulary. There are also dissimilarities and some unique features such as Kamandaka’s strategy of Upeksha (neglect, diplomatic indifference) reused and revived during the Indian freedom struggle.
The interweaving of philosophy with statecraft lends Kautilya’s Arthashastra a unique comprehensive approach. Even if some of the Kautilyan tenets are resoundingly commonsensical, the lamp of philosophy credibly illuminates its Indianness.
