Ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy — attributed to Kautilya (Chanakya), minister of the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta — the most comprehensive ancient manual for governance, combining realism about power with systematic policy advice.
Creates the first systematic treatise on political economy and statecraft — the Arthashastra's combination of state administration, economic policy, foreign policy, and intelligence operations in a single systematic framework has no precedent in any civilization; it is the Machiavellian realism of ancient India with 2,000 years more comprehensiveness.
No recorded contemporaries.
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