The Vision of Pre-Kautilya Thinkers: A Study Based on the Kautiliyam

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Svamin: The King, 3. Amatya: The High Official. 4. Prakriti and Vyasana: The Constituents of the State and Maladies. 5. Shadgunya: Foreign Policy, Diplomacy and Warfare. 6. Legal and Socio-Economic Aspects. 7. Conclusion. Appendices. Select Bibliography. Index.
                            
Kautilya begins his magnum opus, the Arthasastra, with salutations to Sukra and Brihaspati, and then goes on to state that this treatise is a compilation of material, distilled from different earlier sources. Among his predecessors, Kautilya quotes extensively, either for support or for criticism, from the authors of the schools of Brihaspati, Usanas (Sukra), Manu, Parasara, and Ambhi, and from individual political thinkers-Bharadvaja, Visalaksha, Pisuna, Kaunapadanta, Vatavyadhi, and Bahudantiputra. Another authority, often quoted by him, is Acharyah. The present monograph is an attempt to present a comprehensive account of the vision of these pre-Kautilya thinkers, as gleaned primarily from the Kautiliyam.