A Concise History of Science in India c5.s5.2

c5.s5.2

The origin of the subject may be traced to late Vedic times as is evidenced by the use, in the *Hiraṇyakeśī Gṛhyasūtra*, of the terms *dharma*, *artha* and *kāma* representing the three aims of life. That a separate science of *arthaśāstra* had come into existence as a specialized subject of study is attested by the *Smṛtis* of Manu and Yājñavalkya and by the *Mahābhārata*. According to the epic, Bṛhaspati was the founder of this science of polity and might have composed an *arthaśāstra*, but this cannot be the extant *Bārhaspatya-Arthaśāstra* which is a modern manual.c