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Revisiting the Political Thought of Ancient India: Pre-Kautilyan Arthashastra Tradition rediscovers the political ideas of the original and celebrated schools of thought in ancient India—early Arthashastra and Pre-Kautilyan traditions.

This book throws light on hitherto not very well-known aspects of political ideas in ancient India, which flourished during the 5th and 4th centuries before Christ. Kautilya’s Arthashastra is a major text on ancient Indian political thought, wherein he cited views of a number of Arthashastra teachers who had written on political science. Unfortunately, their writings are not available today; only their views are found scattered in different texts. This book brings together these views to prepare a coherent account of their political ideas and reconstructs the pre-Kautilyan Arthashastra tradition with the help of available sources.

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. The Royal Priests and the Black Magic of the Atharva Veda. 3. The Origin of State and Early Political Speculation in Ancient India. 4. The Origin of Arthashastra Tradition. 5. The Lokayata Philosophy and the Early Arthashastra Tradition. 6. The Arthashastra Teachers. 7. Political Thought of Early Arthastastra Thinkers. 8. Vijayan Bala and Apaddharma 9. Ethics and Politics in the Arthashastra Tradition. 10. Supremacy of Politics. Annexure: Methodology of Kautilya’s Arthashatra. Bibliography. Index.