The Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia published ‘Artha-shāstra, an Ancient Indian Seyāsat-nāmeh (Political Treatise)’

12/8/2024 22:56

The Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia published ‘Artha-shāstra, an Ancient Indian Seyāsat-nāmeh (Political Treatise) - a Thematic and Linguistic Analysis – with the Persian translation of Artha-shāstra’s Book One and a brief glossary’, translated from Sanskrit to Persian by Nāzanīn Khalīlī-pūr.

CGIE: The Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia published ‘Artha-shāstra, an Ancient Indian Seyāsat-nāmeh (Political Treatise) - a Thematic and Linguistic Analysis – with the Persian translation of Artha-shāstra’s Book One and a brief glossary’, translated from Sanskrit to Persian by Nāzanīn Khalīlī-pūr.

The book begins with a foreword by Kāẓim Mūsavī Bojnurdī, the CEO of the Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia (CGIE), in which he states: Reviewing the historical development of the ancient treatises on statecraft and governance, one might find the ancients’ understanding of politics a fascinating subject to study. These treatises are a significant part of human intellectual heritage which reflect the mindsets and viewpoints of their writers on the rules of government, no matter how much the explained principles in them had an influence on the rulers’ political conduct or their practices of governing. Writing such political treatises has a long history in Iran and their profound impact on the Muslims’ understanding of the government and the caliphate is noticeable from many aspects. In sum, studying the intellectual foundations of political philosophy in the East, particularly in the ancient civilizations of India or China, can provide us with substantial benefits not only in discovering facts about the distant past but also in understanding the contemporary world. The book ‘Artha-shāstra’ is a detailed treatise on the art of politics in ancient India and is known as a primary source of information about the political affairs, culture and civilization in that country. Hence by translating it to the modern languages and conducting research studies on it, we can measure the influences it had on the culture and civilization of the neighboring countries such as Iran. Furthermore, this book is linguistically valuable too as it sheds light on one of the ancient languages of the world.

In her preface to the Persian translation of Artha-shāstra, Nāzanīn Khalīlī-pūr, says: In addition to the religious texts and the epic poems, the ancient Indians have written other books to show their interests in other topics such as medicine, grammar, politics and even sexual relationships. Thus there is a wealth of Sanskrit texts at hand, which are considered to be the literary masterpieces of the ancient world. Except for some well-known Sanskrit texts such as Kalila wa-Dimna  (Kalila and Dimna), Ramayana , Mahabharata , Bhagavadgita , etc. which have been translated into Persian, Iranians, by and large, are unfamiliar with other Indian texts. One of the ancient Indian Sanskrit texts, which has attracted the attention of the researchers since the early 20th century, is Kautilya’s Artha-shāstra, a classic treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Regarded as a first-hand source of political thoughts in Hinduism, it is estimated to have been written around 321-296 BC, which is confirmed by the researchers on the basis of its ancient writing style. Kautilya , an outstanding politician and the author of Artha-shāstra, is concerned with the duties of the ruler, ministers and military officers and has written about the statecraft and governance. As a great Hindu Statesman and philosopher, he is rightly compared by many to the Italian statesman and writer, Niccolò Machiavelli. This ancient work in the Indian literature has not been completely translated into Persian yet and I cannot think of a better title for it than ‘Seyāsat-nāmeh’ (political treatise) which, in my opinion, is the best one for this great book.

Artha-shāstra is divided into fifteen books and every one of them covers a number of topics. The present book, which has been recently published by the CGIE, begins with an introduction to the historical and political backgrounds of Artha-shāstra and its extant manuscripts and after the transliteration of the Sanskrit text of Book One, it contains the translation of this first book into Persian with some notes. In addition, the appendices include a brief glossary, an explanation for the grammatical structure of Sanskrit and the original text of Book One.

Apart from the linguistic issues and the Persian translation of Artha-shāstra, which are specifically aimed at the researchers of the Ancient languages, the readers will be familiarized with the thoughts and profound insights of Kautilya. It also provides the enthusiasts with knowledge of history, politics, economics, culture and sociology in Ancient India.                   

Despite the fact that I have had a research-based approach to Artha-shāstra, I have attempted to explain the contents in a way that is clear and useful to the general readers. In other words, the books which have been translated into Persian from any of the ancient languages are not easily comprehensible for those without a specialized knowledge since they are mostly translated as textbooks which have to be faithful to their original texts; additionally, ancient languages have their own grammatical structure which do not correspond with the Persian grammar. Thus, if my translation remained faithful to the original text in Sanskrit, it would be unintelligible for the non-expert. Therefore, I have translated the book with both specialists and non-specialists in mind so that it could be intelligible to anyone who would like to read it. I have also done my best to meet the needs of the ancient language researchers by including a brief glossary and the explanatory notes in the appendices.                

The book is divided into two sections: the first section contains ‘About Artha-shāstra’, ‘The Literary and Historical Backgrounds’, ‘The Linguistic and Literary Eras’, ‘Writing Shāstras (treatises) in India’s Classical Age’, ‘The Historical Background’, ‘About Kautilya’, ‘Artha-shāstra’s Topics and Division’, ‘The Relations between Artha-shāstra and the Politics or the Political Theory’, ‘Characteristics of the King in Book One of Artha-shāstra’, ‘An Introduction to the Manuscripts of Artha-shāstra’ and ‘An Introduction to the Interpretations of Artha-shāstra’; the second section contains ‘Book One - Concerning Discipline’, which includes twenty-one chapters as follows: ‘Table of Contents: Topics and Chapters’, ‘An Explanation for the Schools of Thought and the Determination of the place of logic’, ‘The Determination of the Place of the Trayi-vidayi or Three Vedas  (Rig, Yajur, and Sama)’, ‘The Determination of the Place of Economics and Statecraft’, ‘Consultation with the Aged’, ‘Restraining the five senses’, ‘Controlling Arishadvargas or Shadripu (the Six Enemies of the Mind)’, ‘The Life of a Saintly King’, ‘Appointment of the Ministers’, ‘Appointment of the Councilors and Priests’, ‘Testing the Ministers’ Spiritual Purity or Impurity’, ‘The Institution of Spies’, ‘Appointment of the Spies’, ‘Itinerant Spies’, ‘Spying on the Deceivable and Undeceivable Gangs in One’s Own State’, ‘Winning over the Deceivable and Undeceivable Gangs in the Enemy’s State’, ‘The Councilors’, ‘The Mission of Envoys’, ‘Protection against the Prince’, ‘The conduct of a deposed Prince and Guiding Him’, ‘The Duties of the King’, ‘Rules for the Royal Residence’ and ‘Guarding the King’. The appendices at the end of the book include the explanatory notes, the glossary, the bibliography and the original text of Book One in Sanskrit.

Title of publication: Artha-shāstra, an Ancient Indian Seyāsat-nāmeh (Political Treatise) - a Thematic and Linguistic Analysis – with the Persian translation of Artha-shāstra’s Book One and a brief glossary

Binding: hardcover

Page numbers: 352 pages

Quantity: 200 copies

Price: 4,200,000 Rials

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