On the Controversy about the Arthasastra
By Kailash Chandra Ojha
Summary
This paper addresses debates over the date and authorship of the Arthasastra, a treatise on statecraft traditionally attributed to Kautilya or Chanakya. One school claims that the existing text is the original work composed in the fourth century BCE, while another argues that it is a later redaction. The author proposes that Kautilya wrote an original sutra‑style Arthasastra which was subsequently expanded and annotated by a commentator named Visnugupta. He stresses that Puranic and Buddhist sources independently attest to the historical existence of Kautilya as the minister who aided Chandragupta Maurya, so his role should not be doubted. However, the literary style and vocabulary of the extant text suggest a post‑Mauryan compilation, perhaps from the early centuries CE. The paper thus advocates a reconciliatory view: respect the tradition that reveres Kautilya while recognising that the text we have today is a later compilation based on his original guidelines.
Conclusion
The author concludes that the Arthasastra likely originated as a concise manual by Kautilya but was later expanded into the comprehensive treatise we possess. Accepting this layered composition reconciles textual evidence for a later date with the historical tradition of Kautilya’s authorship and helps resolve longstanding debates about the work’s provenance.