State and Government in Ancient India c8.s1.12

c8.s1.12

The next term we have to consider is Nītiśāstra. Nīti is derived from the root *nī* to lead; Nīti therefore means proper guidance or direction. It was held that this would become possible by following the ethical course of conduct and therefore one connotation of the term Nītiśāstra was the science of ethics. Proper guidance or direction usually presupposes propriety, prudence and wisdom; so Nītiśāstra also came to denote the science of wisdom and right course. Bhartṛihari used the term in this sense when he described one of his books as Nītiśataka. Greatest propriety, wisdom and circumspection have, however, to be shown in shaping and guiding the internal and foreign policy of the State, and so the term Nītiśāstra became very popular to designate the science of government from about the 5th century A. D. Kāmandaka and Śukra prefer to call their works as books on Nīti and not on Daṇḍanīti or Arthaśāstra. Lakshmīdhara (1150 A.D.), Annambhaṭṭa (1200 A.D.) Chaṇḍeśvara (1350 A.D.), Nīlakaṇṭha and Mitramiśra (1625 A.D.) call the relevant books of their digests as Nītikalpataru, Nītichandrikā, Nītiratnākara, Nītimayūkha and Nītiprakāśa respectively, and not as Arthaśāstra-Kalpataru or Rājadharma-ratnākara, Rājyaśāstramayūkha or Daṇḍanītiprakāśa. The aim of the government is to secure all round progress and prosperity of society and the same was taken to be the scope of Nītiśāstra. Śukra points out how Nītiśāstra is a *sine qua non* for the stability and progress of society in all directions and how it enables the realisation of the four-fold goals connected with Dharma, Artha, Kāma and Moksha.¹