Kautilya

Kautilya's Arthashastra is one of the great political books of the ancient world, but it is little known outside of India. Kautilya (300 BCE) was the key adviser and the genius of the strategy undertaken by the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (c. 321–298 BCE), who unified the Indian subcontinent in empire. Chandragupta Maurya's grandson was the great Emperor Ashoka (268–233 BCE), who was strongly influenced by Buddhism, ruled in a benevolent but paternalistic manner, and is one of the great kings in world history.

What does the word arthashastra mean? Literally translated, it means “science of material wealth,” but arthashastra is routinely translated as “science of politics.” Says Kautilya, “The source of the livelihood of men is wealth [artha], in other words, the earth inhabited by men. The science which is the means of the attainment and protection of that earth is the Science of Politics [arthashastra].” The most important element of government is the treasury. “From the treasury the army comes into being. With the treasury and the army, the earth is obtained.” Kautilya wrote his Arthashastra so that a ruler might “conquer the earth up to its four [Page 756]ends”—really, the known world of the Indian subcontinent—and become a cakravartin, what Indians called a “world conqueror” or “universal ruler.”

Kautilya assumed that a monarch would rule, and the king must keep law and order by using punishments (literally, “the rod”) and awards appropriately. If the monarch is too lenient, the kingdom will fall apart, and the country will fall into a war of all against all, or what Indian thinkers called “the law of the fishes,” that is, a world in which the big fish eat the little ones. If the monarch is cruel, then he or she will be hated and the people will desert or turn on their leader at the first opportunity. Social justice is in the king's best interest.

What are the duties of a king? Kautilya believed that a king must uphold the system of caste (really, class) and subcaste. “The observance of one's special duty leads to heaven and endless bliss. In case of its transgression, people will be exterminated through the mixture of duties and castes.” Therefore, a king who ensures that all adhere to their caste duties will find “joy after death and in this life.” In addition, a well-ordered kingdom will offer its people what Kautilya rather traditionally saw as the three good things of this life: “material gain, spiritual good, and pleasures.”

A monarch must live a disciplined life, enjoying the good things of this world in moderation; a king must avoid becoming addicted to gambling, wine, or women because any of these addictions can compromise a king's judgment. If the monarch rules well, then his or her policies will promote the general good, and here, Kautilya became probably the world's first advocate of something like a welfare state. Paternalistic in almost a literal sense, the king “should favor the stricken subjects like a father.” Whereas the king himself, by means of his administration, should “maintain children, aged persons, and persons in distress when these are helpless,” judges in the kingdom should concern themselves with the affairs of “women, minors, old persons, sick persons, who are helpless [even] when these do not approach the court.”

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