Following is the summary of the book covering important points related to the government, politics and statecraft of an empire. For this Kautilya combined 15 old books in Arthashastra and explained different concepts in it like economic prosperity, military strategy, political affairs, external affairs, internal matters of Harem of the King, King’s own characteristics, qualities of a Prince, ministers, spies, civil officers and how to manage the public etc. Its main concept is how a state, or an empire can work greatly. Arthashastra is the combination of Artha and shastra (treatise). Artha is one of them and probably the most important one. They are Dharma (moral values), Artha (economic values), Kama (psychological values) and Moksha (spiritual values). There is a concept in Hinduism called the concept of Purusarthas i.e., four goals in human life. Arthashastra is also compared to ‘The Prince’ by Machiavelli because of its realist approach to the statecraft and politics.
So, all have a concord on this and call him Kautilya, the author of Arthashastra. Vishnugupta was his real name and Kautilya/ Chanakya was his surname. Some authors say that it was written by three persons, Kautilya, Chanakya and Vishnugupta while others say that all three were one person. There are different views regarding the authorship of Arthashastra. It was a sort of a handbook for Chandragupta to run his kingdom. Kautilya was the Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire. Arthashastra was written for the King of that reign, Chandragupta Maurya. He published it in 1909 and was translated into English in 1915. It was written by Kautilya in 300 BCE but was lost at that time and was discovered by Rudrapatna Shamasastry in 1905 CE. It is about how economy, politics, military strategy and diplomacy of a state should work. Arthashastra is a historical Indian book which covers aspects of state functioning.
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