Strategic Lessons from Kautilya's Arthashastra 2022 04 09

Council of Strategic Affairs Roundtable Discussion on Kautilya's Arthashastra

Multiple Discussants: with Dr. Adityanjee
• Col. Harjeet Singh
• Mr. Aditya Satsangi
• Ms. Sumedha Verma Ojha
About Discussion:
Arthashastra is the masterwork of India‘s greatest statesman-philosopher, Kautilya. Composed in the late fourth century BCE, Arthashastra ranks alongside Sun Tzu‘s Art of War and Thucydides‘ History of the Peloponnesian War as one of the timeless classics of the ancient arts of war and governance. Like Art of War, the origins of Arthashastra are somewhat shrouded in mystery. It was lost sometime after the fall of the Gupta dynasty (ca. 550 CE), reappearing in 1904 after more than 1400 years of obscurity. Published in 1909, the first English translation was carried out in 1915 followed by German, Russian, and other translations. And, as is the case with many ancient works, its authorship has been disputed. Kautilya is often referred to as Chanakya, probably his birth name and generally understood to be the same person, and occasionally as Vishnugupta. In Arthashastra, there is much criticism of the opinions of earlier teachers, followed by Kautilya‘s own opinion. Still, the preponderance of academic opinion is that Kautilya (or Chanakya) is the author of Arthashastra (clearly stated in the first chapter), and that it was composed during the reign of the first Maurya king, Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BCE). A verse in the fifteenth chapter enumerates that the ―science (shastra) was composed by that person who, in resentment, rescued the earth from the Nanda Kings,‖ a tale briefly recounted below.

About: Col. Harjeet Singh

Colonel Harjeet Singh was commissioned into the Sikh Light Infantry in 1969. After commanding 2 SIKH LI he was posted as Directing Staff at the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He took early retirement in 1998. He holds two Masters degrees, a M.Sc. in Defence Studies and M. Phil. in Defence and Strategic Studies, both from the University of Madras.
The author of many articles, monographs, and reports dealing with defence and strategic affairs, he is well-known in military circles for his erudition and perspicacity of analysis. He has authored over 50 books. He developed an interest in the Arthaśāstra in 1980 and has been studying it since. Amongst his publications on the subject is the book, The Military Strategy of the Arthaśāstra. He has also written two monographs on the subject - The Kautilya Arthaśāstra: A Military Perspective and Evolution of Strategic Culture Based on Sun Tzu and Kautilya: A Civilisational Connect, both published by the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Delhi in 2013 and 2016 respectively. He has also had articles on the subject published in professional journals:
 Does the Kautilya Arthaśāstra Have Contemporary Military Relevance?
 Military Adages and Stratagems in Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra; and
 Kautilya and the Operational Art.
His latest monograph, recently published by the USI, Delhi is Eastern Military Thought.
Widely travelled, he has visited many countries which has widened his horizons and given him a unique perspective on global issues. A keen student of military history he has delivered lectures on military history for the past 10 years to the Pre-Staff College courses.

About: Aditya Satsangi
Founder of Sattology and author of 10 books on ancient Vedic history and also Native History of the world.
Indian American Entrepreneur & Author with an independent centrist viewpoint. Widely acclaimed author of books on Sattology. An Avid Golfer !
Global CX Champion. Built CX program for many Fortune firms from Strategy to Inplementation.
CEO for large and medium sized IT consulting firms.
Founder of Kisanpro.com, Sattology, NymblSoft. Currently helping companies in USA to build up operations and sales teams.

About: Sumedha Verma Ojha
She joined the Indian Civil Services in 1992 but switched careers after a sabbatical in 2006 moving to writing books and international consultancy with United Nations organizations. She has been engaged in deep research on ancient Indian History and Sanskrit and Prakrit works for the past decade and a half. Sumedha works in the area of translating and explaining the epics and bringing ancient Sanskrit/Prakrit literature to the modern world. Expertise, principles and information, hidden, often lost, for lack of knowledge of Sanskrit are being unearthed especially in the area of political science, international relations and ancient warfare. The Epics, Ramayana and Mahabharat, Dhanurveda and Arthashastra are her specialties. Her translation of the Sanskrit Valmiki Ramayana was published in 2016.
She is engaged in writing a book on the women of ancient India which will set a new approach to understanding women based on the emic Shastric and Indic traditions of the sub-continent. She also works in the area of conservation of cultural heritage with a focus on the intangible heritage of oral traditions.