The re-discovery of Arthashastra
how a 2400-year-old book changed the way the world viewed Indian statecraft
Anyone from India would surely be familiar with Chanakya, and his famous quotes from the book Chanakya Neeti. He was a student of the Taxila University — The oldest university in the world. The more significant contribution of Chanakya was authoring Arthashastra (loosely translated as Science of Politics and Management), a book in which he laid down principles of how to conquer and rule.
This was 2400 years ago, and the book remained an integral part of scholastic discussions on economics, politics, and management; till about the 12th century, when it disappeared.
Although the book was considered lost, it was still remembered in folklore. People considered it as a legendary text, containing big secrets of statecraft, secrets no one would ever know again.
Until 1905.
The accidental rediscovery
in 1905 scholar Rudrapatnam Shamastry was given the task of cataloging a heap of palm leaf manuscripts donated to the Mysore Oriental Library by and unknown Brahmin. It was during this mundane task that he stumbled upon a complete copy of Arthashastra. Imagine discovering a legendary book which was considered to be lost for over a millennium!
The text was written in Grantha script (a South Indian script used to write Sanskrit used around the 6th Century CE). Shamastry wasn’t able to translate the script even after 3 months of discovering it. The story goes that he discovered the key in a dream one night, and was able to understand the script the next day. He published it in 1909, and an English translation was published in 1915
The Global Impact
Till the dawn of the 20th century, most of the western world believed that the empires in Ancient India were run based on religions and mythological beliefs. This mindset was shattered after the re-discovery of the Arthashastra.
Western scholars had always argued that ancient India learned the art of administration from the Greeks after the invasion by Alexander. The Arthashastra proved these theories wrong, and further studies of the texts showed that this was the other way round, how the text had influenced administrations all over the world.
Unfortunately, over a century later, the original manuscript is now in danger of getting destroyed. The Institute lacks funds to maintain this national treasure and 60,000 other old manuscripts. The texts came close to getting burned down in an electrical accident in 1998, and still have not been secured in fireproof chambers.
This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — How to speak so people would listen