Arthashastra

The Arthashastra ( Sanskrit , m, अर्थशास्त्र. Arthasastra , artha means power, prosperity, purpose, [[Shastra | Sastra ]] is textbook) is a constitutional law textbook of the Old India. It was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century by the Indian scientist Rudrapatna Shyamashastri (1868–1944) and published in 1909. It is considered the most important work of the ancient Indian theory of the state and one of the great works of world political literature.

Artha is one of the "four legitimate goals" in the life of a Hindu , along with Kama (lust), Dharma (cosmic order) and Moksha (salvation).

The author question

Different self-designations of the author in Arthashatra have contributed to confusion and to the spread of the assumption that it must have been at least two authors who wrote this compendium of statecraft. The first is called Kautilya, not least in its introductory chapter. A supposed second author appears in the closing lines under the name Vishnugupta. In addition, the author is often called Chanakya in the literary and Shastra texts of the first millennium of our era. According to one thesis, Kautilya and Chanakya are the same author and Vishnugupta revised the original text around 200 AD, including the commentary literature that had formed on the first text. It is more likely that all three names refer to one and the same person who is best known today as Chanakya and who was a fellow campaigner and ultimately closest advisor to Chandragupta I at the time of the Maurya dynasty . In the commentary of his three-volume edition of Arthashatra, RP Kangle explains the name question by stating that Kautilya is the family name, Chanakya is the patronymic and Vishnugupta is the first name. Since Arthashatra is also characterized by a "high level of originality, conceptual coherence and methodological rigor", the thesis of a single author appears more plausible than that of a collective of authors.

The teaching

Arthashastra deals with law, justice, administration, foreign policy, defense and war and devotes a chapter to the king. The duties of the king are described as protecting the state from external aggression, maintaining law and order, and ensuring the well-being of the population. It also contains rules and recommendations on how a kingdom can secure its existence and become powerful and rich. Kauţalya is based on seven fundamental “pillars” of the state, i. H. the properties of the king, ministers, provinces, capital, state treasury, army and its allies. The strengthening and application of these power factors promises the successful existence of a kingdom.

The king is at the center of a group of states that surround his empire. This group of states is based on the principle that the neighbor is the natural enemy and his neighbor is in turn the natural friend of the kingdom. This system is interspersed with neutral “middle” kings and surrounded by uninvolved outsiders. The goal is to defeat the enemy first, then the neutrals and finally the bystanders by strengthening one's own power and weakening the power of the hostile empires. The regulations are moral and only justify the purpose. Kautalya is therefore considered an unscrupulous theorist.

literature

expenditure

• The Arthasastra of Kautilya. Ed. By Shama Sastri (= Rudrapatna Shyamashastri). Government Oriental Library, Mysore 1909 a. numerous new editions.
• Kauṭilya's Arthaśástra. English translation by R Shama Sastri (= Rudrapatna Shyamashastri). Government Press, Bangalore 1915 (see web links)
• The Kautiliyan Arthasastra. Edited and translated by RP Kangle. 3 Vols. University of Bombay, Bombay 1965–1972.
• Kautilya: The Arthashastra. Edited and translated by LN Rangarajan. Penguin books India, New Delhi 1992.
  • Part 1. A critical edition with a glossary.
  • Part 2. An English translation with critical and explanatory notes.
  • Part 3. A study.
• King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra . English translation by Patrick Olivelle, Oxford 2013.

Secondary literature

• Friedrich Wilhelm: The relationship between Kamasutra and Arthasastra . In: Journal of the German Oriental Society . tape 116 . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1966, p. 291-310 ( online [accessed November 6, 2012]).
• Hartmut Scharfe: Investigations into the constitutional doctrine of Kautalya . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1968.
• Hartmut Scharfe: Investigations in Kauṭalya's manual of political science . 2nd revised edition of investigations into the constitutional doctrine of Kautalya . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 3-447-03330-4 .
• Michael Liebig: Endogenous Political-Cultural Resources. The relevance of the Kautilya-Arthashastra for modern India. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2014.

Web links

Wikisource: Arthashastra  - Sources and full texts (English)

• Arthashastra (translation Shyamashastri 1915, 15 PDFs, English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Liebig: Endogenous Political-Cultural Resources. The relevance of the Kautilya-Arthashastra for modern India. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2014.
2. ↑ Michael Witzel: The old India . CH Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-48004-7 , p. 86 .