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The present work deals with the period c. 400-185 B.C. which saw grat changes in the political, economic and artistic life of India. Alexander, Chandragputa, Chanakya and Asoka dominate the period. We get vivid pictures of the outstanding events of the period--as of Alexander's conquests and their influence on the cultural life of India, of the fusion of Brahma-Ksatra in the early Mauryan rule after the overthrow of the Nandas and of the rule of Asoka and his successors.The work consists of eleven chapters contributed by eminent historians. The reader would find the chapters on Mauryan Polity, Industry, Art, Religion, Language, and Literature very interesting and instructive.
Kautilya, also known as Chanakya, is India s most illustrious political economist of all time. He regarded economic activity as the driving force behind the functioning of any political dispensation. In fact, he went to the extent of saying that revenue should take priority over the army because sustaining the army was possible out of a well-managed revenue system.Kautilya advocated limiting the taxation power of the State, having low rates of taxation, maintaining a gradual increase in taxation and most importantly devising a tax structure that ensured compliance. He strongly encouraged foreign trade, basing it on the premise that for a successful trade contract to be established, it had to be beneficial to all. He emphasised State control and investment in land, water and mining. Kautilya was a true statesman who bridged the gap between experience and vision. For Kautilya, good governance was paramount. He suggested built-in checks and balances in systems and procedures for the containment of malpractices. Many postulates of Kautilya s philosophy of political economy are applicable to contemporary times.
This book on Gupta Polity is a companion volume to the author`s earlier work The Mauryan Polity. The sources of information for a study of the subject are not as many as in the case of the later book. The author firmly believes that Kalidasa was not a protege of the Gupta Court but lived in second century b.c. and so his prolific works cannot be taken to throw any light on the Gupta empire. One has therefore to depend mainly on the Kamandakiya Nitisastra, the inscriptions and coins of the Gupta rulers and the accounts of the Chinese traveller Fa-hien for a knowledge of the Gupta Polity.
What India’s founders derived from Western political traditions as they struggled to free their country from colonial rule is widely understood. Less well-known is how India’s own rich knowledge traditions of two and a half thousand years influenced these men as they set about constructing a nation in the wake of the Raj. In Righteous Republic, Ananya Vajpeyi furnishes this missing account, a ground-breaking assessment of modern Indian political thought. Taking five of the most important founding figures—Mohandas Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, and B. R. Ambedkar—Vajpeyi looks at how each of them turned to classical texts in order to fashion an original sense of Indian selfhood. The diverse sources in which these leaders and thinkers immersed themselves included Buddhist literature, the Bhagavad Gita, Sanskrit poetry, the edicts of Emperor Ashoka, and the artistic and architectural achievements of the Mughal Empire. India’s founders went to these sources not to recuperate old philosophical frameworks but to invent new ones. In Righteous Republic, a portrait emerges of a group of innovative, synthetic, and cosmopolitan thinkers who succeeded in braiding together two Indian knowledge traditions, the one political and concerned with social questions, the other religious and oriented toward transcendence. Within their vast intellectual, aesthetic, and moral inheritance, the founders searched for different aspects of the self that would allow India to come into its own as a modern nation-state. The new republic they envisaged would embody both India’s struggle for sovereignty and its quest for the self.
First published by the Clarendon Press in 1961, this authoritative work is based largely on the edicts of Asoka, whose policies are analysed against the background of Mauryan civilization during the third and fourth centuries BC. This is a thoroughly revised edition, with a substantial new afterword by the author, a revised bibliography and index, and a map showing new archaeological sites.
This book offers a critical synthesis of the archaeology of South Asia from the Neolithic period (c.6500 BCE), when domestication began, to the spread of Buddhism accompanying the Mauryan Emperor Asoka's reign (third century BCE). The authors examine the growth and character of the Indus civilisation, with its town planning, sophisticated drainage systems, vast cities and international trade. They also consider the strong cultural links between the Indus civilisation and the second, later period of South Asian urbanism which began in the first millennium BCE and developed through the early first millennium CE. In addition to examining the evidence for emerging urban complexity, this book gives equal weight to interactions between rural and urban communities across South Asia and considers the critical roles played by rural areas in social and economic development. The authors explore how narratives of continuity and transformation have been formulated in analyses of South Asia's Prehistoric and Early Historic archaeological record.
One of the greatest figures of wisdom and knowledge in the Indian history is Chanakya. Chanakya is regarded as a great thinker and diplomat in India who is traditionally identified as Kautilya or Vishnu Gupta. Originally a professor of economics and political science at the ancient Takshashila University, Chanakya managed the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta's rise to power at a young age. Instead of acquiring the seat of kingdom for himself, he crowned Chandragupta Maurya as the emperor and served as his chief advisor. Chanakya Neeti is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya's deep study of the Indian way of life. These practical and powerful strategies provide a path to live an orderly and planned life. If these strategies are followed in any sphere of life, victory is certain. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms ? pithy sentences) that tell people how they should behave. Chanakya used these sutras to groom Chandragupta and other selected disciples in the art of ruling a kingdom. But these sutras are also relevant in this modern age and are very useful for us. For the first time, Chanakya Neeti and Chanakya Sutras are compiled in this book to make Chanakya's invaluable wisdom easily available to the common readers. This book presents Chanakya's powerful strategies and principles in a very lucid manner for the benefit of our valuable readers.
The only extant treatise on statecraft from classical India, the Arthsastra is an invaluable resource for understanding ancient South Asian political thought; it also provides a comprehensive and unparalleled panoramic view of Indian society during the period between the Maurya (320-185 BCE) and Gupta (320-497 CE) empires. This volume offers modern English translations of key selections, organized thematically, from the Arthasastra. A general Introduction briefly traces the arc of ancient South Asian history, explains the classical Indian tradition of statecraft, and discusses the origins and importance of the Arthasastra. Thorough explanatory essays and notes set each excerpt in its intellectual, political, and cultural contexts.
Mudraraksasa Is A Historical Play Of The Nataka Type In Seven Acts Written By Vishakadatta In 6Th Century A.D., In Which Chanakya, The Minister Of King Chandragupta Of Pataliputra, Wins Over Rakshasa, The Minister Of The Nandas To The Side Of Chandragupta. It Is An Unique Play In Many Respects. The Play Is Based On A Political Theme And It Bears Testimony To The Consummate Skill Of Visakhadatta As A Dramatist. It Does Not Present Any Of The Recognized Dramatic Sentiments (Rasa), But Introduces A New, Hitherto Unrecognized Sentiment Of Intense Rivalry Between Two Sharp-Witted Ministers Dedicated To The Service Of Their Respective Kings.