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    Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.): Economic Ideas
    Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.): Economic Ideas
    Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.): Economic Ideas
    Ebook91 pages2 hours

    Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.): Economic Ideas

    By Ratan Lal Basu

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    About this ebook

    This book delineates all the economic ideas embedded in the Arthasastra composed around 300 B.C. in India by Kautilya, a great Brahmin scholar and the Prime Minister of the Maurya king. To enable free reading the English translations of the supporting excerpts from the original text has been relegated to the end of the book under 'notes'.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRatan Lal Basu
    Release dateJun 7, 2011
    ISBN9781458031686
    Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.): Economic Ideas
    Author

    Ratan Lal Basu

    ADDRESS: KOLKATAPh. D. in EconomicsProfession: Retired from 1st January, 2009 from the post of Reader in Economics and Teacher-in-Charge, Bhairab Ganguly College, Kolkata, India

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      Book preview

      Kautliya's Arthasastra ( 300 B.C.) - Ratan Lal Basu

      Kautilya’s Arthasastra (300 B.C.): Economic Ideas

      Ratan Lal Basu

      Copyright 2011 Ratan Lal Basu Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for purchasing this e-book. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non- commercial purposes. If you have enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase the e-book at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support

      Contents

      Preface

      I Environment & Ecology

      II Empowerment of Women

      III Price Policy

      IV Agriculture and Land Use

      V Craft Industries

      VI Role of the State Sector

      VII Taxation & Fiscal Policy

      VIII Division of Labor

      Notes

      References

      The Author

      Preface

      Study of this book would give the reader a complete grasp over the economic ideas delineated in the Arthasastra composed around 300 B.C. in India by Kautilya, a great Brahmin scholar and the Prime Minister of the Maurya king.

      To enable free reading the English translations of the supporting excerpts from the original text has been relegated to the end of the book under 'notes'. The interested reader may digress to the notes at anytime he likes to get the ideas expressed in this book substantiated by the text. Although American spelling has been used throughout the main book, the British spelling in the quotations from the text (under notes) has been kept intact. However, some diacritical marks (in the English rendering of Kangle) which are likely to corrupt the file has been avoided.

      Kautilya’s Arthasastra is a famous treatise of ancient India. It was composed around 300 B.C. The author, Kautilya (also known as Chanakya and Vishnugupta) was a great Brahmin scholar and a teacher of statecraft, which, in those days embraced economics, politics, war science, espionage and various aspects of religious and social life. Artha in the narrow sense means money but in the wider sense it means all material means to meet human requirements and sastra means the holy book. The basic purpose of the book to specify guidelines for unifying the innumerable states in the Indian subcontinent into a strong and large monarchic state capable of repulsing foreign invasion and ensuring free flow of goods and services throughout the subcontinent. This became necessary because of rapid expansion of trade. Multiple sates with multiple laws and restrictions on entry had created a serious hindrance on the path of free flow of goods and services which became essential with rapid expansion of trade and commerce. Moreover invasion of Alexander the Great proved that smaller states were most vulnerable to foreign invasion.

      The process of unification of the smaller state, existing in Hindustan from time immemorial had already started since the reign of Ajatasatru (660 B.C.) who had conquered 36 smaller states to form a vast Magadha state. The Nanda dynasty further increased the size of the state by conquering new smaller states. Kautilya wanted to accelerate the process further and his mission came to fruition as, on the basis his guidelines and under his shrewd stewardship as the Prime Minister of the Maurya Emperor, his disciple, the king Chandragupta Maurya was capable of unifying Hindustan into a vast state embracing the geographical areas of most of present India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and parts of Afghanistan. He could also ensure internal law and order, protection against foreign invasion and economic prosperity following the guidelines of Kautilya and his Arthasastra.

      The magnum opus was mentioned and partially quoted in various available ancient Indian texts; but the manuscript of the original text was not available to the scholars till 1909. The manuscript was discovered by Shamasastry, the librarian of Oriental Manuscripts Library of Mysore from the house of a native Brahmin scholar in 1902 and the edited full text was published by him in 1909 and later on the text was translated in English by him and other scholars.

      The treatise deals exhaustively with statecraft, economics, espionage, administration, war science, ecology and various other aspects pertaining to human living. The entire text is divided into fifteen books, each containing several chapters. Although there are occasional insertions of prose, the treatise is written mainly in slokas (Sanskrit verse consisting of two lines). In our quotations under 'notes', the symbol I/1/1 means book-I, chapter-1, sloka-1.

      In this book we are going to take up some economic and related issues dwelt upon in the great treatise. The topics to be taken up for discussion are listed in the content below: Environment and Ecology, Empowerment of women, Price policy, Agriculture & land use, Craft industries, Role of the state sector, Taxation and fiscal policy and Division of labor.

      I Environment & Ecology

      It is a matter of surprise that more than two thousand years ago, Kautilya had touched upon environmental issues of which human society has become aware only since the mid-twentieth century. According to him the sources of hazards pertaining to environment and ecology are human indiscretion and natural calamities. He prescribed preventive and remedial measures for both in his book.

      Man-made Hazards

      Kautilya attaches utmost importance to the preservation of forests and other natural resources. He prescribes that appropriate plants should be grown to protect dry lands and pasturelands should be properly protected. Kautilya entrusts the task of protecting forests and other natural resources with the king (through different state officials). The king should protect different types of forests, water reservoirs and mines by enacting appropriate laws and enforcing them with the assistance of honest and efficient officials.[1]

      Houses and other dwelling places, roads, cremation grounds etc. should be properly constructed preserving environment. Every house should have proper arrangements for controlling fire. Any violation of the rules pertaining to these matters would make one liable to punishment.[2]

      Every house should be constructed strictly on the basis of the rules (preserving environment) prescribed by the authorities. There should be proper arrangements in each house for sewage and proper disposal of wastes. The violators would be fined according to the gravity of the offence.[3]

      In the above specifications Kautilya takes into consideration all aspects necessary for perfect harmony and eco-friendly milieu in the dwelling places of the citizens.

      Kautilya prescribes various fines and other punitive measures for polluting the environment by throwing

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