Book Review-  Revisiting The Political Thought Of Ancient India

Abstract

Now-a-days a plethora of writing is coming up on the ancient wisdom of India. There are many fields where researches are being held particularly in Bharat, like political thought, statecraft, religious scriptures, reinterpretation or revisiting the ancient scriptures, education, science, technology or whatever was available at that time.

Nowadays, a plethora of writings are coming up on the ancient wisdom of India. There are various fields where researches are being held, particularly in Bharat, like political thought, statecraft, religious scriptures, reinterpretation or revisiting the ancient scriptures, education, science, technology or whatever was available at that time in India or Bharat. So, a lot of research is being done. There used to be a time when most of the research started in ancient Indian wisdom from the Kautilyan period. But now, research is being done even before the Kautilyan period. They are talking about Indian wisdom, Indian philosophy, Indian financial systems, the concept of Dharma, Danda, Niti, Varna, Jati, etc. In this field, Ashok S. Chausalkar has also written a book, namely, Revisiting the Political Thought of Ancient India, Pre-Kautilyan Arthashastra Tradition. In this book, he starts with royal priests and black magic and the references he puts forward are from Atharva Veda. He also writes about the origin of a state in early political speculations in ancient India. He talks at length about Arthashastra tradition, Lokayat philosophy, then Arthashastra teachers. He has also given an account of political ideas of early Arthashastra thinkers. He also writes about a very interesting topic to which he has dedicated chapter number 8 and it is on Apadharma. He also has given sufficient space for ethics and politics in the Arthashastra tradition. As a whole, this book serves the purpose for those readers who want to know about the Arthashastra tradition before Kautilya. Before Kautilya, Arthashastra existed and there were many early Arthashastra thinkers who have written and spoken about Arthashastra traditions and role of the king, and his offices and the revenue system etc.