The Mauryan Polity c12.64

c12.64

It is significant to note that Kauṭalya’s another name is Vātsyāyana. Vātsyāyana is the author of the extant *Kāmasūtra*.¹ There is another Vātsyāyana, the commentator of the *Nyāyasūtra* of Gautama. Both the Vātsyāyanas may be the same as Prof. Rangaswami Aiyangar seems to think.² But the really interesting feature is the identification of Kauṭalya with Vātsyāyana.³ Kauṭalya’s reputation for versatile genius and all-round knowledge should be acknowledged on all hands. His aim, even according to the *Arthaśāstra*, was not mere policing of the state which would amount to the safeguarding of the security of life and property. It extended beyond and looked to the common good and welfare of the citizens at large. These are indeed the primary functions even of the modern state in spite of all our vaunted constitutional progress. This narrow outlook on politics did not appeal to a versatile mind like that of Kauṭalya. He wanted the state to rest on an economic foundation. In other words Kauṭalya devoted more to analysing a man’s aims in life and endeavouring how best to promote individual interests with those of the social group as a whole. His aim was the ultimate realisation by the people of the state of the four objects of human existence (*caturvarga*).