Kautilya on Love and Morals

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Kautilya's Arthailstra is essentially a work on the science of polity. He himself refers to several carlier authorities on the subject. In fact, he states in the introduction to his work: "This Arthasastra is written after compiling almost all the arthadastras, which have been produced by earlier masters with the object of gaining and maintaining the earth."

As Dr. Mehendale observes: "The science of polity was known by various names, Arthadastra, Dandaniti, Nitisastra, Rajaniti, etc. and dealt not only with the political theories and the actual organisation of administrative machinery, but also various matters connected with state and society which would now form the subject matter of law, sociology and economics. At first these subjects were treated in a section in the Dharma sutras and later in the Dharmasastra. But independent treatises were also written at an early date. The Arthjastras ascribed to Kautilya (also called Vishnugupta) is the earliest extant work of this class, but it contains references to a large number of treatises which were regarded as authoritative in his days. These were the products of no less than five schools and thirteen individual writers on the science of polity. Many of these are also mentioned in the Mahabharata which deals with the subject under the name Raja- dharma." A look into the contents of Kautilya's Arthasastra reveals the wide variety of subjects with which he has dealt in great detail.

**Contents and Sample Pages**