​

Chanakya's Artha Shastra

or

Principles of Governance

​

​

​

​

Introduction:

​

Acharya* Vishnu Gupta who we also refer to as Acharya Chanakya or Kautilya was born 371 BCE in a province called Golaya Janpad in the kingdom of Magadh (current day North India) which was the biggest and most powerful state of India at that time.

His father was a teacher called Acharya Chanak and his mother was Chaneshwari Mata.

​

They often had Holy men visiting their home and it is said the Holy men forecast him to become a king or very wise teacher one day. His humble parents hoped he would one day grow up to be a Holy man or teacher rather than a king...

 

Vishnu Gupta’s father, Chanak was known to be a Truthful and fearless teacher who disagreed and publicly opposed the cruel policies of the tyrant king Nanda of Magadh. For this he was charged and executed by the king and his family ordered to be hunted down.

 

Orphaned and forced to exile for his life, young Vishnu Gupta was saved by another traveling teacher and taken to Takshashila University in Gandhar province (current day Taxila in the region between Rawalpindi, Pakistan and Kandhar Afghanistan).

Here Vishnu Gupta studied diligently for years and subsequently became a brilliant scholar and teacher (Acharya) in the university, to be known as Acharya Chanakya (literally means son of Chanak)

 

As to why Acharya Chanakya is so important in Indian History, read this article.

​

In short, He was the Mentor, Teacher and Prime minister of India's first and largest Centralized Empire called Maurya Empire founded by Emperor ChandraGupta Maurya under the guidance of Chanakya circa 322 BCE. Chanakya played a very crucial role in India's History and survival as a nation...Chanakya single handedly saved India from foreign (Greek) domination when Alexander on his world conquest campaign reached the borders of India around 326 BCE. This he achieved with the overthrow of tyrant Dhanananda, Unification of smaller regional Indian kingdoms into a unified force through military coups, conquests and diplomatic alliances; infiltration and demoralization of tired Greek army to return back to Greece, and above all the establishment of a strong Maurya Empire..

​

Besides above, for posterity, Chanakya authored several treatise’s on:

• Art of Governance,

• role and responsibilities of a good king,

• establishment of Dharma (righteousness) in society and such.

​

In this article I discuss, Chanakya's  Artha Shastra that pertains to Governance, Economics, Politics and such.

​

​

Artha Shastra

​

The most authoritative text from Chanakya is called as ‘Artha Shastra’.

In Sanskrit, Artha literally means 'substance or material' and Shastra means 'study'.

Thus Artha-shastra, literally means the Study of the principles of the pursuit and preservation of material wealth like Land and livelihood.

What Chanakya gave us through his seminal work Artha-shastra was more general than that.

It was the wholistic study of Governance, Economics, Politics, Diplomacy and Justice.

​

At a very high level, according to Chanakya's Artha Shastra:

​

• Root of happiness is in Dharma (righteousness)

• Root of Dharma in pursuit and preservation of Artha in a just and righteous manner. 

 

So a just society is the one that can follow the above principles.

 

Here are some excerpts from ArthaShastra:

 

• What is Raj dharma?

  • Raj = Governance. Dharma = Righteousness

  • So, Raj Dharma is about how a king shall conduct and govern.

  • Raj Dharma must be based on notion of justice.

  • Raj Dharma must NOT be based on:

    • King’s freewill                    (recall most kings tend to think they are above law, infallible and descendants of Gods) 

    • Brahmana’s Shastra         (Ritualistic religious principles of priests)

  • Rather Raj Dharma must be based on ‘Righteous Just Principles’

​

• Who is an Ideal King?

  • An ideal King must be ‘Raja Rishi’ (Raja = King, Rishi = Saint)

  • one for who peoples welfare is his highest duty.

​​

​

• What is Dharma Nyay Neeti?

• Chanakya used the term ‘Dharma Nyay Neeti’. (Sanskrit Dharma = Righteousness, Nyay = Justice, Neeti = Policy). This compilation of Righteous Just principles can be thought of the precursor to any modern Constitution that forms the backbone of any Democratic Government today.

• This is significant because this shows how Chanakya was much ahead of his times.

• He was the first teacher in History of humankind who showed that the

 

Constitution is the highest authority in Governance not the monopoly of Kings and Religion. 

​

Does that sound a chord with the notion of Magna Carta? Of limitation of powers to a Monarchy or a Church? Remember this was about 1800 years before Europe came to realize these ideas in the Renaissance period.

 

• What are Chanakya's views on Adminstration and Government's structure?

• Chanakya wrote that there are 7 parts to an admistration:

  • King,                             (ruler or head of state)

  • Ministers,                    (advisers, lawmakers)

  • fort / borders,

  • people,

  • tax (kosha),                  (revenue system)

  • punishment,

  • allies

• and that each one of these must follow the 4 principles of :

  • Sama               (equality for all),

  • Dama              (reward for good),

  • Danda             (punishment to corrupt) and

  • Bheda             (if all fails, cause differences and coup in the enemy) 

​

 

On structure of Administration, Chanakya wrote:

 

The administration must be a composite of:

• A strong central administration that has dominion over the entire kingdom and  

• smaller local administration at the city or district level whose role is to implement laws at the grassroots, collect taxes and maintain order.

• Administration through officials and bureaucrats instead of ancestral landlords/dynasties. 

• To prevent corruption, these officials must be rotated and transferred between departments every few years.

• He wrote ‘when do fish drink water, is impossible to say’, so also how insiders become corrupt and steal from the system its difficult to say. To prevent this he listed 40 different possible types of scams and how to identify them

• He wrote that the work of these officials must be subject to an audit system 

• This was done in the form of district level audit-meetings in the month of Ashara (Jun-July) - after harvest season.

​

​

Trivia:

• In one place Chanakya even says, "A King must not sleep more than 4.5 hours a day". I think thats interesting...

​

​

​

​

*In Sanskrit, Acharya means Teacher or preceptor.

​

​