Arthashastra - Date and Authorship

Date and Authorship

The author of the Arthashastra refers to himself as 'Kautilya', while the last verse mentions the name 'Vishnupgupta'. Many scholars believe that the former was the gotra of the author, while the latter was his personal name. Most scholars, though not all, also believe that these names refer to the 4th century BC scholar Chāṇakya. Thus, the original identification of Kautilya or Vishnugupta with the Mauryan minister Chanakya would date the Arthaśāstra to the 4th century BCE.

Some scholars believe that Arthasastra was written at a later stage. Their arguments include the assertion that the state described in Arthasastra is smaller than the Maurya empire, and there is no reference to either the empire or its capital Pataliputra. In addition, some of the geographical place names, the reference to the Hunas and the use of the Greek loan words suggest a later date. Thomas R. Trautmann and I.W. Mabbett have hypothesized that the 'Arthaśāstra' is a composition from no earlier than the 2nd century AD, but is clearly based on earlier material. Their explanation is that while the doctrines of the 'Arthaśāstra' may have been written by Chanakya in the 4th century BC, the treatise we know today may have been edited or condensed by another author in the 2nd century AD. This would explain, some affinities with smrtis and references in the Arthaśāstra which would be anachronistic for the 4th century BC. Trautmann believes that Arthashastra is actually a compilation of a number of earlier texts written by various authors, and Chanakya might have been 'one of these authors.

K.C. Ojha has put forward the view attributing the doctrines of 'Arthaśāstra' to Kautilya or Chanakya and suggests that Vishnugupta is in fact a redactor of the original work. Thomas Burrow goes even further and says that Chanakya and Kautilya are actually two different people. However, some doubt about Burrow's assertion is due to the end of the treatise, which says: "This Sástra has been made by him who from intolerance (of misrule) quickly rescued the scriptures and the science of weapons and the earth which had passed to the Nanda king." This supports the more commonly held belief that Kautilya and Chanakya are the same person, given Chanakya's role as mentor to Chandragupta Maurya.

More recently, Mital concluded that the methods used by Trautmann were inadequate to prove his claims, and therefore "there exists no direct evidence against Kautilya being the sole author of The Arthashastra, nor evidence that it was not written during the 4th century BCE.". Mital goes on to rebut Trautmann's reliance on the affinity with the smrtis.

Noted Indian scholars such as Dr RC Majumdar, Dr DR Bhandarkar, Dr KP Jayaswal and Dr AS Altekar place the date of the Arthshastra between 7th century BC to 2nd century BC. Dr RK Mookerji, Prof FW Thomas and Vincent Arthur Smith all agree with the 4th century BC as the time of the book's composition. HC Raychoudhuri puts 249BC as the lower limit and 100AD as the upper limit of composition of the text of the Arthshastra in its present form and postulates that the original text dates from an earlier period. Sir RG Bhandarkar dated the composition of the current treatise to around 1st or 2nd century AD. This view is also held by some Western scholars but scholars such as DR RC Majumdar and Vincent Arthur Smith have rejected the date of Arthshastra as late as 2nd century AD and cite evidence that supports the composition of the Arthshastra in 4th century BC. DD Kosambi, noted historian and Indologist, maintains that the book is a 4th BC century creation by Chanakya or Kautilya who was Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya. Prof Romilla Thapar believes that the book is a geniune text dating from Mauryan India (4th century BC) but given its final touch by an editor in 3rd century AD. She supports the view of Trautmann that portions were composed by Kautilya, but various sections were composed or edited later and the treatise was given its present day form in 3rd century AD. Trautmann notes that some portions of the treatise were probably composed by Kautilya, who was the Prime Minister of Chandragupta, but that other parts were added later on. He dates the composition of Book-2 of the 'Arthaśāstra' to 150CE and the whole treatise in its present form by 250CE.

In summary, most scholars put the composition of the 'Arthaśāstra' to between 4th century BC and 2nd century AD. The text was influential until the 12th century, when it disappeared. It was discovered in 1904 by R. Shamasastry, who published it in 1909 and the first English translation was published in 1915.