Likened to Machiavelli by political theorists, Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra almost two thousand years before Niccolo Machiavelli was born. Written in Sanskrit, the Arthashastra remains unique in all of Indian literature because of its unabashed advocacy of realpolitik. The Arthashastra does not leave any doubts about its ends: according to Chanakya, a ruler should use any means to attain his goal and his actions required no moral sanction. The only problems ...
