[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922) › c14.s2.2 # The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c14.s2.2 The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c14.s2.2 - **Language:** English ### [c14.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s2.2) The second class of Hindu sociological literature, viz., the \*artha\* and \*nîti śâstras\*, has been arresting the attention of scholars only for the last decade or so. As Kautilya tells us, many were the writers on politics⁶ in ancient India, though the works of very few are extant. There is a book that passes for the work of one Ghata-karpara. A second \*nîti-śâstra\* is by tradition fathered on Vidura, a statesman of the \*Mahâbhârata\*. The sage Vaiśampâyana is credited with a third, viz. the \*Nîti-prakâśikâ\*.⁷ Somodeva's \*Nîti-Vâkyâmrita\* is another such book. And there is a treatise, entitled the \*Yukti-kalpa-taru\*,⁸ attributed to king Bhoja of Dhârâ in Malwa (in the Middle West of India). This Bhoja may have been identical with Mihira Bhoja (c 840—90), the Napoleon of the Gurjara-Pratîhâra Empire. Finally, a \*sûtra\* or aphoristic treatise dealing with \*nîti\* topics is credited to Brihaspati, the same perhaps of the \*Smriti\* fame. - [Previous: c14.s1.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s1.20) - [Next: c14.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s2.3) - [Up: c14.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s2) ## Cites (6) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Viduranīti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.upakhyana.viduraniti) — Sanskrit - [Nītiprakāśikā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.nitiprakasika) — Vaiśampāyana, Sanskrit - [Bārhaspatyasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darsana.nastika.carvaka.brhaspatisutra) — Bṛhaspati, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Nītivākyāmṛta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.nitivakyamrta) — Somadevasūri, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1922.c14.s2.2) · Pramāṇa