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Kautilya: The Indian Political thought


                                                                                                                 

INTRODUCTION

Kautilya is considered as the pioneer of economics and political science. In the Western world, he has been referred to as the Indian Machiavelli, although his works predate Machiavelli’s by about 1800 years. Kautilya was a teacher in Takshila, an ancient centre of learning, and was responsible for the creation of the Mauryan Empire, the first of its kind on the Indian subcontinent. 

His works were lost near the end of the Gupta dynasty and not rediscovered until the early twentieth century. Two classics that are said to be Kautilya’s creations are the Arthashastra and the Neetishastra. The Arthashastra is also known as Chanakya Niti. It discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations and war strategies in detail. Neetishastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Kautilya’s in depth study of the Indian way of life. 

In the Arthashastra, Kautilya specifically described the duties of the council of state and of the council of ministers. According to him, a state should completely dominate its economy and taxation and pricing policies. Kautilya developed a labour theory of value for determining ‘just’ wage for workers as he understood the concepts of demand and supply and their combined influence on price. He even wrote explicitly on foreign trade, interest and money. 

Kautilya Arthashastra is not a theoretical treatise on political science. It is not directly concern itself with the question of the origin of the state. Kautilya’s Arthashastra essentially a book on the art of administration gave only passing reference to the origin of the state. 

According to Kautilya the state originated when people got weary of the logic of the fish (Matsanayana) according to which bigger fish swallow the smaller ones. The state originated to fulfill the desire of the people to have a peaceful society. King took upon themselves the responsibility of maintaining the safety and security of their subjects.


WORK: ARTHASHASTRA–TRADITION OF DANDA SHASTRA 

• State craft is discussed 

• Also contains dharma 

• There is continuity between Manu and Kautilya in terms of laws. 

MAIN IDEAS OF ARTHASHASTRA 

• Kautilya defines statecraft as Arthashastra. Arth means material well being. According to him most important objective of king is to ensure material well being of his people. In his words, “Material well being is supreme, attainment of all goals like Dharma, Kama, and Moksha depends on material well being.” 

• In ancient time, land was the main source of securing material well being. So Arthashastra’s main idea was how to acquire the land. It is natural for a state to go for acquiring land. First land to be acquire the land of the neighbour. Hence neighbour was also the natural enemy. 

• Relation between two states was relation of war. Arthashastra contains art of war like Sun Tzu, the Chinese strategist. Hence main idea of Arthashastra was war, strategic planning, Balance of power and geopolitics. 

• Arthashastra can be considered as the first text of geopolitics. Geopolitics is science of capturing land. According to concept of geopolitics, state is an organism. Like organism, state has to grow. If state doesn’t grow/expand, state will perish/decay. 

• Arthashastra challenges the western view that Indians lacked strategic culture. George Tanham rejected that Indians had any strategic wisdom. But Kautilya proved him wrong. 

• It is unfortunate that policy makers in India overlooked the wisdom found in Arthashastra. However, in the beginning of 21stcentury, Hindu Rightist Party after coming to power changed in the approach of South Block. We are rediscovering Indian wisdom.


KAUTILYA’S LABOUR THEORY OF VALUE: 

Two millennia before Adam Smith enunciated the labour theory of value, Kautilya in Arthashastra held that a ‘just’ wage to be paid to workers should be based on amount of time spent on the job, amount of the output created, and the skills necessary to perform the required tasks. 

Kautilya explicitly recognizes three distinct components for determining market value of labour: 

1. Level of skill required (the human capital element), 

2. Labour hours worked, and 

3. Unit of output produced (the labour productivity element)


PROMINENT IDEAS OF ARTHASHASTRA: 

• State of relation between two countries 

• Mandal Siddhant 

• 4 Upaya 

• Saptang Theory 

• ShadgunyaNiti




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