The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c11.s8.28

c11.s8.28

And finally, this leads to the item to which Indian indologists have likewise need to be adequately oriented, namely, that many of the ideals, *dharma* (duties), norms etc. expounded in the *Arthaśāstra* are frankly and hundred per cent Machiavellian. It is fallacious to believe that "ideals" and "pious wishes" must always be holy, humane, high-souled, or philanthropic as one generally understands them according to one's lights. The Machiavellian ideals are also ideals,—and whatever they may mean,—have never been seriously repudiated in the *Realpolitik* as well as in the political philosophy of the world.³⁴ As an exponent of Machiavellism Kauṭalya is in excellent company, Eastern and Western, and the *Arthaśāstra* is one of the greatest works of mankind in the realm of political ethics or logic (*Staatsräson*). It is a glory to the Hindu brain that this powerfully conceived philosophical masterpiece on the problems and solutions of group life, of man in society, and of man in state has not been excelled, so far as it goes, in any quarter of the globe and in any epoch of culture-history.