Introduction The Arthaśāstra is conventionally attributed to Kauṭilya, who is believed to be Cāṇakya, who in turn is equated with Viṣṇugupta, ‘minister’ to the first Mauryan emperor, Candragupta. This identification locates the text as having been written in the middle of the 4 th century BCE, when Mauryan rule was established. Both these contentions—authorship and date—have been questioned by some scholars, and not without reason. Philological studies place the text somewhere between the second century BCE and the third century CE, and its author in other parts of the Indian subcontinent, prominent claimants being Northern Maharashtra and Gujarat. [a] , [1] Establishing the correct authorship and period of any historical text is usually a prerequisite for understanding it in its proper context. Such exercise in philology and antiquarianism, however, is untenable in India given the current state of data gathering. An alternative approach is close reading and comparative analysis with relevant contexts, either coeval or chronologically disparate. Attempting to do so, this paper seeks to historicise the Arthaśāstra , positing that it documents an early political philosophy of what compares well with the fiscal-military state—a type of state that had geared its economy to raise and sustain standing armies by subjecting its populace to regular taxes and implementing fiscal innovations such as national debt and organised credit, albeit with a number of crucial differences. The paper also examines why the Arthaśāstra ’s enlightened approach was subsequently undermined by socio-political forces beyond its control.
Authors
Related Organizations
- Attribution
- Saikat K Bose, “Historicising the Arthaśāstra: Early Fiscal-Military States in South Asia,” ORF Occasional Paper No. 451 , October 2024, Observer Research Foundation.
- Pages
- 31
- Published in
- India
