Arthashastra of Chanakya – English Translation

The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military trategy authored by Chanakya (350-283 BCE).

Chanakya, also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta, was an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta, and architect of his rise to power. Other important works of Chanakya are ‘Chanakya Sutras’ and ‘Chanakya Niti Darpanam’.

R. P. Kangle defines Arthashastra as “science of politics,” a treatise to help a king in “the acquisition and protection of the earth”. This text is divided into 15 books:

01 Concerning Discipline
02 The Duties of Government Superintendents
03 Concerning Law
04 The Removal of Thorns
05 The Conduct of Courtiers
06 The Source of Sovereign States
07 The End of the Six-Fold Policy
09 The Work of an Invader
10 Relating to War
12 Concerning a Powerful Enemy
13 Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress
14 Secret Means
15 The Plan of a Treatise

source of e-text: www.bharatadesam.com

DOWNLOAD Arthashastra of Chanakya – English
DOWNLOAD SANSKRIT UNICODE TEXT

DOWNLOAD ARTHASASTRA SANSKRIT (SCANNED PDF)

VOLUME 1, VOLUME 2, VOLUME 3


Comments

Arthashastra of Chanakya – English Translation — 125 Comments

  1. Thank you very much.In this age of extreme commercialism, god bless you (if you believe that is) for providing these rare books for free!

  2. Thank you very much for providing such a great book …. so that person like me can read it ..

    Thanks a lot for your great deed.

  3. I can’t express my gratitude in words. I’m speechless to get this original script which is a great trasure a student of Politics like me. Thanks a lot. Kindly publish other such scripts in scanned form e.g. Veda, Upanishadas n so on.

  4. Thanks a ton! You are doing a great service by making it accessible to all interested. It is a book of real substance which truely opens up your mind. Really appreciate..

  5. Is the following verse from Kautilya’s Arthasastra? If not, what is its source?
    “dhanam arjatu kaakutsa dhanam moolam idam jagat; antaram naiva janami nir dhanyasa mruthyasacha”

    Thank you.

    M. Nageswara Rao

  6. sir
    I wanted to know name of the shastra which contain about weapons and physics.By this I wanted to improve this Bharatadesa in modern techniques.
    I am very thankful if you say where can I get in Hyderabad Andhra pradesh

  7. Thankyou.. Thankyou..
    I can understand how much this book has been imbibed by you, by this very act of making this Gem of books freely available to the seeker. You are a person i would like to associtate with. Thankyou Friend. Hi five!!

  8. Thank you so much for posting such a great book for free! For some reason I am ot able to download the book via your link. Could you kindly email me the English Translation to “rakave@gmail.com”.

    Much appreciated.

    Once again, thank you.

  9. thanks is a very small word to express but from the core of the heart thank you so much for this great work. downloaded Kautilya Arthasastra. priceless efforts.

  10. Hi

    Loved the blog and thanks for the great book..

    Do you know/ have RP Kagle’s Book on the sunject please??

    Looking desperately for it..

    • Lalit,

      Out of 3 volumes of Arthasastra translation by RP Kangale, first two are available at Digital Library of India. Links are given below.
      kautiliya arthasastra pt.2., 99999990840951. kangle, r.p.. 1963. english. ancient india, economic conditions. 640 pgs.
      the_kautiliya_arthasastra_part_1., 2020010008652. r p kangle. 1960. sanskrit. NULL. 388 pgs.

  11. Well thanks for the quick reply

    but i could not see/ download.. hence was the request

    also im more interested in Part III of the book ..

    if you could help me please…

    • Srinivasa Rao, You may search at Digital Library of India – dli.gov.in
      Since I don’t know Telugu, I cannot help you much in this matter.

  12. sir the link to download the Sanskrit edition is volume 1 2 3 right? but I have a doubt are they separate each analysed by separate authors or all are by same author! kindly reply! I wan to download the Sanskrit edition! also if they are of same author then till volume three u have uploaded right is it the end of arthashastra or more to come?

    • Aniruddh, They are 3 volumes of the same set. They contain Arthasastra with Sanskrit commentary by T Ganapati Sastri published in Trivandrum Sanskrit Series.

  13. This Website is Amazing could get the Arthashastra book . great job by the creators of this site , please update us with the older things and our country’s history .And Thanks for the free E books .

  14. Dear Sir, thank you very much for providing precious books for all of us to read, here I am requesting if possible for you, kindly also provide books on Vedas (in detail or in brief elaborating). Thank you so much. Please keep updating us any precious books uploading by you to learn by us more about Indology and Dharma.

  15. The book is really nice, its a piece of Indian history and hence should be read by each and every Indian. Thanx for the book, really appreciated

  16. Dear Sir,

    Thank you for Arthashastra pdf, one can get excellent touch of our vedic culture.. since it will be great if we can get in other languages too.
    Kindly please help me to get Arthashastra in TAMIL PDF form.

  17. thank you for helping curious minds like us, and keeping alive age old traditions of india by providing such books to today’s youth, who hardly get any knowledge of ancient india’s richness in philosophy,science,culture,economy,etc. due to dominance of western culture, philosophy and ideology.
    a big thanks……..

  18. Thank you very much.It helps me in my rehearse work on Hydrology especially on rain gauges, rules and duties to be carried out by the king with respect to building of tanks, taxation on Agricultural products, Rain forecasting, Soil of various categories etc., It is worth here to say that was referred to say that Hitler used to refer every day this great work and implemented most of the rules and regulation in Germany during his tenure. Secondly it was first discovered Sri Shyama Sastry at Mysore Oriental Library. Thirdly when Nalwadi Krishna Raja Vodeyar visited Germany it was through this book he was recognized as Indain King belongs to Mysore State. When Vodeyar himself wonder stuck to hear the name of GREAT SCHOLAR Sri Shayama Sastry. After returning to Mysore he searched for the SCHLOR SRI SHAMA SHAYAMA SASTRY and honored him as Asthan Widwan! It is because of this great Schlor The Mahan Kautilya was brought to light of the World Areana. I thank Sri Ganapathi Sastriji and you also for re-establishing the Vision and Visdom of India to publish in this Media.
    My heartful thanks to you,
    Dr.Harihara Sreenivasa Rao, Hydrologist, Bangalore.

    • You said is correct.Shama Shayama Sastry was a great scholar who had indepth knowlege both in Sanskrit and English.Whenever I read his translation,forgetting me,I used to swim in that translated ocean.I love him.He is a ladder. On him I have climbed on his shoulder as you.As a Hydrologist you have implemented his scintific knowledge practically in your endevour.Please try to explore AS still more and write a commentary on the relevent Books of Hyderological Interest and Fort Construction.Panneer Selva Mudaliar C 93600 32478

  19. I would be happy to get a copy of this book. As this is required for my new work on a work that I am preparing titled as New Avenues to Modernity’
    Thanks in anticipation of the favor. Regards

  20. Thanks indeed for sharing the link. Was wondering if there is an institute that teaches complete Arthashastra through online or maybe the traditional classroom? Finally, is there a link available to the english translation of Chanakya Neeti Shastra? If so, kindly share.

    Appreciate your favor

  21. THANK YOU FOR FREE DOWNLOAD SIR.IT SHOWS TO THE WORLD THAT,WISDOM IS NOT ONLY REGULATED TO A CERTAIN RACE,RELIGION,CLASS.BUDDHA,ASOKA,CHANAKA.KALARI PAYUTTE.THANK YOU MOTHER INDIA.

  22. Dear Friend,

    Thank you very much for providing these gems of India online for free. You are doing great job. Please keep it up. Wish you all the best. Thank you once again.

  23. u did a great job, but i need both artha sasthra and niti sasthra in tamil, because, i get the information in my language, it will be more effective and truly understand the concept 100%. then only it will give the complete meaning to my life. please arrange and send it to my email id, expecting the books in tamil soon. thanks

  24. Thnx for the priceless stuff.
    I’ve just got the book, is it all ?? Or is it having any more volumes ??

    And by the way,
    I hope you know Sanskrit, can I get the meanings of
    #Trinemri
    #Raagini
    #Vetrayasti
    !!??

    I know it’s totally stupid to ask you like this,but I’d be very much thankful to you.

    You can write me on WhatsApp @ +91 9494826558.

    or please, suggest me a book where I can get the meanings of the above words!!.

        • There are like 12 Sanskrit to English, and 3 English to Sanskrit and some special category dictionaries …
          Tried all.. found nothing..
          Thanks for your concern, could you tell anybook that contains Sanskrit plant names, please..
          Cause, all the three (Trinemri, Raagini, Vetrayasti) I wrote above are plants. I guess!!

          • While searching in online dictionaries, spelling is very important.
            Vetrayashti is there in Monier Williams dictionary.

            Vetra-yaṣṭi, is, m. f. a staff of reed or cane.
            Ragini is Ragi (finger Millet) as per Sabdataravali, a Malayalam dictionary.

            I could not find the meaning of Trinemi (I think this could be the correct name).

            Giving below titles of some books dealing with Indian plants:
            1. Bharatiya Vanaushadhi by Biswas & Ghosh
            2. Flora and Fauna in Sanskrit Literature by SC Banerji

            In addition to the above there a number of books on Indian medicinal plants. You can find details by searching at worldcat.org.

            For such queries, the best place is Bharatiya Vidvat Parishat Google group. If you post a query in the group, the learned members of the group will help you.
            https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/bvparishat

          • Thank you so much genius man!!

            I’ll find my way to thank you.. ? don’t freak out..
            I’ll get you some good books in a couple of months. See ya!!

  25. इतने महत्वपूर्ण ग्रंथ निःशुल्क उपलब्ध कराने पर आपको शत शत नमन।

  26. Thanks for sharing the great treatise on Hindu polity.
    can you please give information about Publication date, publisher and place.

    • This ebook was prepared using text available online nearly a decade back. You cannot use it for citing in research work. Regarding Kangle’s edition, are you unable to download it from the above link? Since the PDF files are of large size, it is difficult to send them by email.

  27. our Gratitude is with you for the splendid Selfless Service you are doing
    A big Thank you For all involved in Sanskrit E books

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