Learn about Kautilya , the ancient Indian political thinker and author of Arthashastra, a comprehensive treatise on statecraft. Explore his views on the king, the state, the minister, the people, the fort, the treasury, the coercive power, the ally and the comparison with Western thinkers. The authorship and date of writing are unknown, and there is evidence that the surviving manuscripts [which?] are not original, and are based on texts which were modified and edited in their history, but were most likely completed in the available form between the 1st and 3rd century CE. [27][a] Olivelle states that the surviving manuscripts of the Arthashastra are the product of a transmission that has involved at least three major overlapping divisions or layers, which together consist of ... A module on the political ideology of Kautilya , the author of Arthashastra, a classic work on administrative theory and practice. Learn about his theory of state, war, peace, dharma, anarchy and more. Chanakya, also known as Kautilya and Vishnugupta, was a Brahmin scholar and prime minister of the Mauryan Empire. He wrote the political treatise Arthashastra, a manual for effective rule, and trained Chandragupta Maurya to overthrow the Nanda Dynasty.
