Whether Porus actually said this, Dhanananda's arrogance and disdain for his people is well-established but there was no one to challenge his reign until he made the mistake of insulting the Brahmin Chanakya (whom the scholar Chirag Patel identifies as one of the king's advisors) at an alms-giving ceremony and, afterwards, Chanakya swore revenge. Porus is said to have told Alexander he could easily topple Magadha because Dhanananda was so unpopular that the people would support Alexander's cause. This climate enabled the development of the kind of vision expressed in Arthashastra, but this vision is commonly accepted to have been specific to Kautilya/Chanakya as part of his efforts in forging a pan-Indian empire led by the kind of strong monarch he trained Chandragupta to become. This philosophy, though it never developed into a formal school, exercised considerable influence in establishing an intellectual landscape of pragmatism and objective, rational response to phenomena divorced from the supernatural viewpoint of religious thought. It denied the existence of anything which could not be perceived by the senses and encouraged the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good in life. Charvaka rejected all religious authority and scripture to focus on individual perception in establishing truth. 600 BCE and is attributed to a religious reformer named Brhaspati (not the same sage from the Dharma Shastra). The most direct influence on the composition of the Arthashastra is the philosophical school of Charvaka which developed c. The title has therefore been translated as The Science of Politics, The Science of Political Economy, and The Science of Material Gain this last because Artha is understood in Hinduism as one of the fundamental aims of human beings in pursuing wealth and social status.Ĭhanakya focused his energies on training Chandragupta to be king & the Arthashastra can be considered the manual Chandragupta was tutored in. The name of the work comes from the Sanskrit words Artha (“aim” or “goal”) and Shastra (“treatise” or “book”) and the goal of the work is a comprehensive understanding of statecraft which will enable a monarch to rule effectively. The Arthashastra is thought to have been written by Kautilya as a kind of handbook for Chandragupta instructing him in how to reign over a kingdom and encouraging direct action in addressing political concerns without regard for ethical considerations. 350-275 BCE) who was instrumental in establishing the reign of the great king Chandragupta Maurya (r. The Arthashastra is an Indian treatise on politics, economics, military strategy, the function of the state, and social organization attributed to the philosopher and Prime Minister Kautilya (also known as Chanakya, Vishnugupta, l.
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