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| CULTURE & SOCIETY |
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BOOK REVIEW |
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Classic view: running a state is a business not a service
Part of a series of books edited by Gurcharan Das, this book probes the secrets of creating and sustaining wealth as given in the Arthashastra
By Manjula Lal
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Arthashastra: The Science of Wealth
By Thomas R Trautmann
Penguin
175 pp | Rs 399 |
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DOES THE current turmoil in Indian society come from politicians simply following principles of the ancient Arthashastra? It seems so if you read Trautmann’s interpretation of Arthashastra, which tells us that economics and politics were conjoined as one unit in ancient India, not demarcated as separate domains. The term means ‘the science of kingship, the business of running a state, specifically a kingdom (rajya).’ Whereas we, the public, are experiencing outrage and anger because we believe that our country is supposed to be run on Gandhian or British public service principles.
Trautmann tells us that kingship, with its powers of taxation, had the greatest capacity to form pools of capital to undertake large enterprises. There was no moral scruple in organising the sale of liquor, ‘keeping within prescribed limits, so as to make it a durable and respectable source of income for the State’ (Well, that practice survives to this day). The same was true of butcher shops, courtesans and gambling, all of which are regulated without moralising.
Kautilya’s Arthashastra is now 2,000 years old. Reading this version, by a professor emeritus of history and anthropology at the University of Michigan, is a little surreal. For instance, we are told that the Arthashastra lists 40 different kinds of embezzlement, mostly through falsification of accounts. The king was constantly preoccupied with detecting stealing of wealth by his own servants. Could record-keeping be the solution? No, as in modern times, this did not eliminate the problem and in fact offered ‘an additional means by which misappropriation could be hidden.’ If applied to today’s problems of tax fiddles and the large parallel economy, the ancient text seems to offer little wisdom for a finance minister.
There also seems to be an amazing continuity between the preoccupations and attitudes of the king and those of modern governments. There is the whole system of warehouses for storing grain. There is the attitude towards traders — though largely favourable, it is mixed with concern about their manipulations in conducting their business. Such suspicion is also extended to artisans but not to farmers, whose activity is regarded as creation of wealth. As for gold, India had even then the reputation of owning the largest personal holdings of any country in the world. The author attributes this to the belief in stridhan (women’s wealth) in lieu of farmland, the latter being divided among sons. Equally notable, he says, is the taste in India for the red coral of the Mediterranean. It is one of the navratnas and has significance in astrology.
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As for gold, India had even then the reputation of having the world’s largest holdings |
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THEN, AS today, there was concern about the ideal qualities of a king. Kautilya’s king is a rajarshi or a king who is a rishi (sage). ‘This means control over the senses — casting out lust, anger, greed, pride, arrogance and foolhardiness. It means leading a life of self-control in the midst of luxury. And it means a life of constant labour and attentiveness to business.’ But surely this formula is not good enough for today’s complex world. We also need leaders with mastery over the craft of politics. And that can’t be learnt from any book, ancient or otherwise.
Manjula Lal is Deputy Editor, FW.
manjula@tehelka.com
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