Chanakya (Kautilya) · Politics

The Welfare of the People and the Discipline of the King

The other face of the <em>Arthashastra</em>: the doctrine that in the happiness of his subjects lies the king&rsquo;s own happiness, the punishing daily schedule of the ideal ruler, and the conquest of the senses - self-mastery - as the true root of statecraft, held in permanent tension with the treatise&rsquo;s ruthless means.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned Kautilya&rsquo;s doctrine that the king&rsquo;s happiness lies in his subjects&rsquo; welfare, his demand that the ruler be endlessly accessible and disciplined, and his claim that self-control (the conquest of the senses over the six inner enemies) is the root of statecraft - all in tension with the treat…

Leads to Ashoka.

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