कौटिल्य-अर्थशास्त्र [321-296 BCE]
Introductory Note
The Kauṭilya-Arthaśāstra, of which Mr. Shamasastry gives us here his translation, is a work of very exceptional interest and value. In the first place, it ascribes itself in unmistakable terms to the famous Brāhman Kauṭilya, also named Viṣṇugupta, and known from other sources by the patronymic Cāṇakya, who, tradition tells us, overthrew the last king of the Nanda dynasty, and placed the great Maurya Candragupta on the throne: thus, the two verses with which the work ends recite that it was written by Viṣṇugupta, who from intolerance of misrule rescued the scriptures, the science of weapons, and the earth which had passed to the Nanda king, and that he wrote it because he had seen many discrepancies on the part of previous commentators; and, in conformity with a common practice of Indian writers, the name Kauṭilya figures constantly through the book, especially in places where the author lays down his own views as differing from others which he cites.
The work accordingly claims to date from the period 321-296 BCE and its archaic style is well in agreement with the claim. Secondly, as regards its nature and value. Kauṭilya is renowned, not only as a king-maker, but also for being the greatest Indian exponent of the art of government, the duties of kings, ministers, and officials, and the methods of diplomacy. That a work dealing with such matters was written by him is testified to by various more or less early Indian writers, who have given quotations from it. But the work itself remained hidden from modern eyes until it was found in the text of which the translation is laid before us here. The topic of this text is precisely that which has been indicated above, in all its branches, internal and foreign, civil, military, commercial, fiscal, judicial, and so on, including even tables of weights, measures of length and divisions of time. And it seems to be agreed by competent judges that, though the existing text is, perhaps, not absolutely word for word that which was written by Kauṭilya, still we have essentially a work that he did compose in the period stated above. Its value of it is unmistakable: it not only endorses and extends much of what we learn in some of its lines from the Greek writer, Megasthenes, who, as is well known, spent a long time in India as the representative of the Syrian king, Seleucus I, at the Court of Chandragupta, but also fills out what we gather from the epics, from other early writings, and from the inscriptions, and explains statements and allusions in these last-mentioned sources of information which are otherwise obscure: in short, it throws quite a flood of light on many problems in the branch of Indian studies to which it belongs.
For our introduction to this work we are greatly indebted to Mr. Shamasastry. A manuscript of the text, and with it one of a commentary on a small part of it by a writer named Bhaṭṭasvāmin, was handed over by a Pandit of the Tanjore District to the Mysore Government Oriental Library. From these materials Mr. Shamasastry, who was then the Librarian of that Library, gave a tentative translation in the pages of the Indian Antiquary and elsewhere, in 1905 and following years. By the enlightened encouragement of the Mysore Durbar he was enabled to publish the text itself in 1909, as Vol. 37 of the Bibliotheca Sanskrita of Mysore. And under the same appreciative patronage he now lays before us a translation which has been improved in various details, in addition to being brought together in a connected and convenient form. His task has been no easy one. For the formation of his text, as for his translation of it, he has had only the one manuscript and the partial commentary which have been mentioned above: and the text is by no means a simple one; it is laconic and difficult to a degree. In these circumstances, it could hardly be the case that anyone should be able to give us a final treatment of the work straight away. It seems that, as a result of the attention which Mr. Shamasastry’s labours attracted at once, two or three other manuscripts of the work have now been traced. So it may be hoped that eventually another step may be made, by giving us a revised text, based on a collation of materials, which will remove certain obscurities that still exist. Meanwhile, it is impossible to speak in too high terms of the service rendered by Mr. Shamasastry, in the first place by practically discovering the work, and then by laying the contents of it before us so satisfactorily, in spite of the difficulties confronting him, which can only be appreciated by anyone who tries to understand the text without the help of his translation. We are, and shall always remain, under a great obligation to him for a most important addition to our means of studying the general history of ancient India.
20th November 1914.
J. F. Fleet.
Relying on the traditional account given in the Purāṇas that Kauṭilya destroyed the Nandas and installed Candragupta Maurya on their throne, and accepting the statement made at the colophon of the Arthaśāstra by its author, that “This Sastra has been made by him who, from intolerance (of misrule), quickly rescued the scriptures and the science of weapons and the earth which had passed to the Nanda king,” the work has been assigned by some scholars to the fourth century b.c., and regarded as a genuine work of Kauṭilya himself.
Book 1 – Concerning Discipline
Chapter 1 – The Life of a King
Chapter 2 – Determination of the Place of Ānvīkṣakī
Chapter 3 – Determination of the Place of the Triple Vedas
Chapter 4 – Vārtā and Daṇḍanīti
Chapter 5 – Association with the Aged
Chapter 6 – The Shaking Off of the Aggregate of the Six Enemies
Chapter 7 – The Life of a Saintly King
Chapter 8 – Creation of Ministers
Chapter 9 – The Creation of Councillors and Priests
Chapter 10 – The Character of Ministers
Chapter 11 – The Institution of Spies
Chapter 12 – Creation of Wandering Spies
Chapter 13 – Protection of Parties
Chapter 14 – Winning over Factions
Chapter 15 – The Business of Council Meeting
Chapter 16 – The Mission of Envoys
Chapter 17 – Protection of Princes
Chapter 18 – A Prince kept under Restraint
Chapter 19 – The Duties of a King
Chapter 20 – Duty towards the Harem
Chapter 21 – Personal Safety
Book 2 – The duties of Government Superintendents
Chapter 1 – Formation of Villages
Chapter 2 – Division of Land
Chapter 3 – Construction of Forts
Chapter 4 – Buildings within the Fort
Chapter 5 – The Duties of the Chamberlain (sannidhātā)
Chapter 6 – The Business of Collection of Revenue by the Collector-General
Chapter 7 – The Business of Keeping up Accounts in the Office of Accountants
Chapter 8 – Detection of Embezzlement
Chapter 9 – Examination of the Conduct of Government Servants
Chapter 10 – The Procedure, of Forming Royal Writs
Chapter 11 – Examination of Gems that are to be entered into the Treasury
Chapter 12 – Conducting Mining Operations and Manufacture
Chapter 13 – Superintendent of Gold in the Goldsmiths’ Office
Chapter 14 – The Duties of the State Goldsmith in the High Road
Chapter 15 – The Superintendent of Store-house
Chapter 16 – The Superintendent of Commerce
Chapter 17 – The Superintendent of Forest Produce
Chapter 18 – The Superintendent of the Armoury
Chapter 19 – The Superintendent of Weights and Measures
Chapter 20 – Measurement of Space and Time
Chapter 21 – The Superintendent of Tolls
Chapter 22 – Regulation of Toll-Dues
Chapter 23 – The Superintendent of Weaving
Chapter 24 – The Superintendent of Agriculture
Chapter 25 – The Superintendent of Liquor
Chapter 26 – The Superintendent of Slaughter-house
Chapter 27 – The Superintendent of Prostitutes
Chapter 28 – The Superintendent of Ships
Chapter 29 – The Superintendent of Cows
Chapter 30 – The Superintendent of Horses
Chapter 31 – The Superintendent of Elephants
Chapter 32 – The Training of Elephants
Chapter 33 – Chariots, Infantry and the Duties of the Commander-in-Chief
Chapter 34 – The Superintendent of Passports and Pasture Lands
Chapter 35 – Revenue-Collectors and Spies
Chapter 36 – The Duty of a City Superintendent
Book 3 – Concerning Law
Chapter 1 – Determination of Forms of Agreement and Legal Disputes
Chapter 2 – Concerning Marriage
Chapter 3 – The Duty of a Wife
Chapter 4 – Vagrancy, Elopement and Short and Long Sojournments
Chapter 5 – Division of Inheritance
Chapter 6 – Special Shares in Inheritance
Chapter 7 – Distinction Between Sons
Chapter 8 – Buildings
Chapter 9 – Sale of Buildings and Boundary Disputes
Chapter 10 – Destruction of Pasture Lands
Chapter 11 – Recovery of Debts
Chapter 12 – Concerning Deposits
Chapter 13 – Rules regarding Slaves and Labourers
Chapter 14 – Rules regarding Labourers; and Co-operative Undertaking
Chapter 15 – Rescission of Purchase and Sale
Chapter 16 – Resumption of Gifts, Sale without Ownership, and Ownership
Chapter 17 – Robbery
Chapter 18 – Defamation
Chapter 19 – Assault
Chapter 20 – Gambling and Betting and Miscellaneous Offences
Book 4 – Removal of Thorns
Chapter 1 – Protection against Artisans
Chapter 2 – Protection against Merchants
Chapter 3 – Remedies against National Calamities
Chapter 4 – Suppression of the Wicked Living by Foul Means
Chapter 5 – Detection of Youths of Criminal Tendency by Ascetic Spies
Chapter 6 – Seizure of Criminals on Suspicion or in the Very Act
Chapter 7 – Examination of Sudden Death
Chapter 8 – Trial and Torture to Elicit Confession
Chapter 9 – Protection of All Kinds of Government Departments
Chapter 10 – Fines in Lieu of Mutilation of Limbs
Chapter 11 – Death with or without Torture
Chapter 12 – Sexual Intercourse with Immature Girls
Chapter 13 – Punishment for Violating Justice
Book 5 – The Conduct of Courtiers
Chapter 1 – Concerning the Awards of Punishments
Chapter 2 – Replenishment of the Treasury
Chapter 3 – Concerning Subsistence to Government Servants
Chapter 4 – The Conduct of a Courtier
Chapter 5 – Time-Serving
Chapter 6 – Consolidation of the Kingdom and Absolute Sovereignty
Book 6 – The Source of Sovereign States
Chapter 1 – The Elements of Sovereignty
Chapter 2 – Concerning Peace and Exertion
Book 7 – The End of the Six-fold Policy
Chapter 1 – The Six-fold Policy
Chapter 2 – The Nature of Alliance
Chapter 3 – The Character of Equal, Inferior and Superior Kings
Chapter 4 – Neutrality after Proclaiming War or after Concluding a Treaty of Peace
Chapter 5 – Consideration about Marching
Chapter 6 – The March of Combined Powers
Chapter 7 – Peace and War by Adopting the Double Policy
Chapter 8 – The Attitude of an Assailable Enemy
Chapter 9 – Agreement for the Acquisition of a Friend or Gold
Chapter 10 – Agreement of Peace for the Acquisition of Land
Chapter 11 – Interminable Agreement
Chapter 12 – Agreement for Undertaking a Work
Chapter 13 – Considerations about an Enemy in the Rear
Chapter 14 – Recruitment of Lost Power
Chapter 15 – Measures Conducive to Peace
Chapter 16 – The Attitude of a Conquered King
Chapter 17 – Making Peace and Breaking It
Chapter 18 – The Conduct of a Madhyama King, a Neutral King, and of a Circle of States
Book 8 – Concerning Vices and Calamities
Chapter 1 – The Aggregate of the Calamities of the Elements of Sovereignty
Chapter 2 – Considerations about the Troubles of the King and of His Kingdom
Chapter 3 – The Aggregate of the Troubles of Men
Chapter 4 – Molestations, Obstructions and Financial Troubles
Chapter 5 – Troubles of the Army and Troubles of a Friend
Book 9 – The Work of an Invader
Chapter 1 – The Knowledge and the Time of Invasion
Chapter 2 – The Time of Recruiting the Army
Chapter 3 – Consideration of Annoyance in the Rear
Chapter 4 – Consideration about Loss of Men, Wealth, and Profit
Chapter 5 – External and Internal Dangers
Chapter 6 – Persons Associated with Traitors and Enemies
Chapter 7 – Doubts about Wealth and Harm
Book 10 – Relating to War
Chapter 1 – Encampment
Chapter 2 – March of the Camp
Chapter 3 – Forms of Treacherous Fights
Chapter 4 – Battlefields and the Work of Infantry, Cavalry, Chariots and Elephants
Chapter 5 – The Distinctive Array of Troops
Chapter 6 – The Array of the Army
Book 11 – The Conduct of Corporations
Chapter 1 – Causes of Dissension; and Secret Punishment
Book 12 – Concerning a Powerful Enemy
Chapter 1 – The Duties of a Messenger
Chapter 2 – Battle of Intrigue
Chapter 3 – Slaying the Commander-in-Chief and Inciting a Circle of States
Chapter 4 – Spies with Weapons, Fire and Poison
Chapter 5 – Capture of the Enemy
Book 13 – Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress
Chapter 1 – Sowing the Seeds of Dissension
Chapter 2 – Enticement of Kings by Secret Contrivances
Chapter 3 – The Work of Spies in a Siege
Chapter 4 – The Operation of a Siege
Chapter 5 – Restoration of Peace in a Conquered Country
Book 14 – Secret Means
Chapter 1 – Means to Injure an Enemy
Chapter 2 – Wonderful and Delusive Contrivances
Chapter 3 – The Application of Medicines and Mantras
Chapter 4 – Remedies Against the Injuries of One’s Own Army
