Arthashatra- A Book on Statecraft

•  It is a book on Statecraft written/compiled by Chanakya/Vishnugupta/Kautilya during 4th Century BC.

• There is a widely held belief that the text of Arthashastra was not available till it was discovered by Sanskrit scholar Dr R Shamasastry. He found the 17th century writing on a bundle of palm leaves from a pandit in Tanjore in 1904.

• Arthashastra, has 15 parts (or books), 180 divisions, 150 chapters and approximately 6,000 verses or shlokas.

1. Book-1 contains details about the King, his ministers and other officers
2. Book 2 lays down the duties of the various executive officers of the state and state’s role in activities like agriculture, mining etc
3. Book-3 contains themes of law and administration.
4. Book 4 highlights suppression of crime.
5. Book-5 contains Miscellaneous topics like salary of officials etc.
6. Book-6 contains constituent elements of a state and foreign policy.
7. Book 7 also covers additional details on foreign policy.
8. Book-8 contains details of various calamities which may hamper functioning of a state.
9. Book-9 contains details pertaining to war preparations.
10. Book 10 relates to the art of fighting and its different modes.
11. Book 11 describes how a conqueror should tackle oligarchies governed by a group of chiefs instead of a single king.
12. Book 12 highlights how a weak king can overcome a strong king.
13. Book 13 describes how to conquer an enemy’s fort.
14. Book-14 informs about occult and secret practices.
15.  Book-15 and the last book highlights logical techniques and methodology used in Arthashastra.       

•  Arthashastra could be used as a manual of statecraft by any king, it was mainly meant for the vijigishu (one who wanted to conquer whole Indian subcontinent) and such a king was described as chakravarti in later Buddhist texts.

• Kautilya described structure of the state in his Saptanga theory or seven organs/elements of state or seven prakriti at the beginning of Book 6.

• The text structure of the Arthashstra as a whole follows the sequence of seven elements, starting with Swami in Book 1.

• Amatya, janapada, durga, and kosa are covered in Books 2 to 5. Danda and mitra are dealt with in Books 6 to 14.

• Saptanga was not an original contribution of Kautilya as some earlier works have referred to this theory.

• The seven elements combine to form a state. The seven elements of state as described by Kautilya are;

1.     Swami or the King.

2.     Amatya or the Minister

3.     Janpada or the People

4.     Durga or the Fort.

5.     Kosha or Treasury

6.   Danda or Sena or Coercive Power of State (Armed Forces, Secret Service and Police)

7.     Mitra or Ally/Friend

 

Kautilya has detailed many types of forts in Arthashastra.

a)     Audak fort is surrounded by water body.

b)    Parvat fort is built amidst high mountains. These forts play an important part while defending against an external attack.

c)     Dhanvan fort is surrounded by desert. 

d)    Van fort is situated amidst dense forest. Kautilya further says that the capital should be built at the centre of the kingdom and it should be divided in four districts, one for each caste.

                     

Kautilya has described six types of army.

  I. Clan army: Constitutes of hereditary soldiers like kshatriyas, as son of a soldier becomes a soldier. Kautilya gives maximum importance to this type of army. Such soldiers are loyal to the king and know different types of war strategies.

   II.         Hired soldiers or militia army.

 

  III.         Mobilisation of militia army is time consuming compared to a standing army.

 

   IV.        An army constituted by the corporations.

 

    V.         An army raised by recruiting the assistance of friendly countries.

  VI.         A fighting unit made up of prisoners of war i.e. enemy soldiers caught during a war.

 

 VII.         An army made up of tribal people.

 VIII.         Kautilya did not comment on naval warfare as he did not say anything about a sea-going navy. Army, according to Kautilya, is divided in four services – infantry, cavalry, chariots and war elephants. Kautilya has highlighted four basic forms of warfare.

 

                                          i.         Mantra-yuddha: war by counsel or use of diplomacy by a weaker king who finds it unwise to fight against a strong adversary.

                                          ii.        Prakash-yuddha: regular warfare where opposing armies fight according to established rules and regulations.

                                        iii.        Kuta-yuddha: irregular warfare including ambushes and raids in enemy territory.

                                        iv.        Tusnim-yuddha: includes covert operations like sabotage and targeted killings.