Political Philosophy of Kautilya in Arthashastra: Perspectives and Continuations

Kautilya was the minister of Chandragupta Maurya during 317-293 BC. He is known for his classical work Arthashastra which has explained his views on state and statecraft in details. This book is considered as the master piece of oriental political philosophy which dealt with Sate, War, Social structure, Diplomacy and Ethics. The Arthashastra tradition is a unique contribution of India to the domain of world political thoughts because it has developed a political philosophy which was rationalistic in essence and utilitarian in character. In the present paper an attempt has been made to study some of the essential & important political philosophy of the Kautilya where we would try to see its continuations and appropriations in the later political environments.