Chanakya, also called Kautilya or Vishnugupta, (flourished 300 BCE), Hindu statesman and philosopher who wrote a classic treatise on polity, Artha-shastra (“The Science of Material Gain”), a compilation of almost everything that had been written in India up to his time regarding artha (property, economics, or material success).
He was born into a Brahman family and received his education at Taxila (now in Pakistan).
He is known to have had a knowledge of medicine and astrology, and it is believed he was familiar with elements of Greek and Persian learning introduced into India by Zoroastrians.
Some authorities believe he was a Zoroastrian or at least was strongly influenced by that religion.
Chanakya became a counselor and adviser to Chandragupta (reigned c. 321–c. 297), founder of the Mauryan empire of northern India, but lived by himself.
He was instrumental in helping Chandragupta overthrow the powerful Nanda dynasty at Pataliputra, in the Magadha region.
Chanakya’s book came to be Chandragupta’s guide. Each of its 15 sections deals with a phase of government, which Chanakya sums up as “the science of punishment.”
He openly advises the development of an elaborate spy system reaching into all levels of society and encourages political and secret assassination. Lost for centuries, the book was discovered in 1905.
Compared by many to Italian statesman and writer Niccolò Machiavelli and by others to Aristotle and Plato, Chanakya is alternately condemned for his ruthlessness and trickery and praised for his sound political wisdom and knowledge of human nature.
All authorities agree, however, that it was mainly because of Chanakya that the Mauryan empire under Chandragupta and later under Ashoka (reigned c. 265–c. 238) became a model of efficient government.
# Arthashastra
Artha-shastra, (Sanskrit: “The Science of Material Gain”) also spelled Artha-śāstra, singularly important Indian manual on the art of politics, attributed to Kautilya (also known as Chanakya), who reportedly was chief minister to the emperor Chandragupta (c. 300 BCE), the founder of the Mauryan dynasty.
Although it is unlikely that all of the text dates to such an early period, several parts have been traced back to the Mauryas.
The author of the Artha-shastra is concerned with the ruler’s central control of a realm of fairly limited size. Kautilya wrote about the way the state’s economy is organized, how ministers should be chosen, how war should be conducted, and how taxation should be arranged and distributed.
Emphasis is placed on the importance of a network of runners, informers, and spies, which, in the absence of a ministry of public information and a police force, functioned as a surveillance corps for the ruler, focusing particularly on any external threats and internal dissidence.