Public Administration in Ancient India c4.36

c4.36

It strikes us as a curious coincidence that Chānakya, the greatest political philosopher of India, was the contemporary of Aristotle, the most eminent political theorist of Ancient Greece, and perhaps also a junior contemporary of Aristotle’s predecessor and teacher, Plato.¹ The opinion of scholars is divided on the question whether the Arthaśāstra is the work of Chānakya himself or of a school founded by Chānakya. Prof. Hillebrandt² holds the latter view, but Prof. Jacobi³ advances weighty arguments to prove the individual authorship of the work. Prof. Keith suggests, “Surely one obvious solution is that Kautilya was an energetic student of the Arthaśāstra, who carried his theoretical knowledge into practice, and in the evening of his days enriched the theory by knowledge based on his practical experience, and that the Arthaśāstra is based on his teaching, though not by his own hand.”⁴