The Arthashastra (or Arthaśāstra) is one of the oldest surviving treatises on statecraft. There is considerable debate about the dating and authorship of the text; it underwent compilation, recension, and redaction several times over the centuries and is likely to have been a witness of religious and ideological transformations, political and socio-economic changes. As a śāstra, it purports to be authoritative and comprehensive and treats its knowledge as eternal, unchanging, and universally applicable. Many scholars have examined the text as the “science of politics” whereas others have seen it as the “science of political economy”, “the science of material gain” etc. Thomas Trautmann described it as the science of running a state, where kingship is identified with wealth. The text itself explains various meanings of the word 'artha'- as the source of livelihood, the earth inhabited by human beings, and the means of protection and acquisition of the earth.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1561/social-political--economic-landscapes-in-kautilyas/.