Public Administration in Ancient India c4.30

c4.30

Of the works which treat specially of the subject of Public Administration, the most important is the Arthaśāstra of Chānakya.² ‘Arthaśāstra,’ literally, means the science of secular welfare, as distinguished from ‘Dharma-śāstra,’ or the science of moral and spiritual well-being. But this work treats only of Politics, for in Kautilya’s opinion Public Administration was the chief means of promoting the welfare of the people. The author appears in Sanskrit literature under various names, such as Kautilya, Kautalya, Chānakya, and Vishnugupta. As Prof. Jolly puts it, “a flood of light has been thrown on the political condition of India in the very times when Megasthenes visited it, by the recent discovery of the Kautiliya Arthasastra.” The author of this great work was himself a practical statesman,¹ and it bears on every one of its pages the impress of a great mind. It evinces a thorough grasp of essential principles as well as a mastery of minute details. But it is not free from defects of a very serious character. For