KAUTILYA’S ARTHASHASTRA

‘Kautilya who?’ In India
itself, Kautilya is mentioned for reasons that are more sentimental and
nationalistic than analytical and comparative with respect to the theoretical
significance of his contributions to statecraft. In academic circles,
Kautilya is labelled as the ‘Indian Machiavelli’, even though the
Arthashastra was written some 1800 years prior to Machiavelli’s Discorsi and
Principe and is much broader in scope.This book brings the wisdom of
Kautilya’s text—a tour de force in strategic thinking—to the present
political discourse, emphasizing the relevance of this ancient text to
contemporary world affairs. Brilliant scholarly analysis complemented with
in-depth academic enquiry gives this work an edge over all that has been
written on Arthashastra so far. Mitra and Liebig move beyond romanticizing
Kautilya and present to the reader one of the sharpest minds in history,
unmatched in its knowledge of statecraft and a theory unparalleled in
strategic thinking.A must-have guide to understanding both Kautilya and the
intricacies of governance.