A Review of Arthashastra in the Context of Indian Knowledge System

Abstract

The traditional knowledge prevalent since ancient time and practiced till today isconsidered as Indian knowledge in general. Particularly all practices to increase the knowledge and to retain it through discussion or recitation on philosophy, spirituality, other traditions and rituals, etc either continued in same way or adopted in a different form could be considered as the Indian Knowledge in continuation. Apart from Vedas, Puranas, Manusmriti, Upanishad, etc one of the most talked ancient texts is about Arthashastra. It was written by Kautilya or Chanakya or Vishnugupta considered as one and the same person by many authors in India. Though the contemporary texts written by Magasthenes during the same period does not exclusively mentions and corroborate the same identification of the author. Perhaps the author which is said to have compiled Arthashastra from various sources or from other co-authors are not as important as the existence of the written text in Sanskrit. The researcher in this paper considers Arthashastra translated by R. Samashastry, R .P. Kangle and finally by L. N. Rangaran in English for this article. To be precise Artha Shastra by L.N. Rangarajan is the main source of reference. His quotation of the previous authors mentioned is considered indirectly. This is due to the old English used by Samashastry and Kangle which becomes difficult for deciphering the meaning of various verses and text. An in-depth study on Arthashastra will provide insight to get the solutions of many day-to-day economic problems and it will pave the way to formulate policies and programmes for making India self reaient.