#3 The Arthaśāstra of Cāṇakya
"Artha is the sustenance or livelihood of men, and Arthaśāstra is the science of the means to Artha" सुखस्य मुलं धर्मः - Dharma is the root of happiness. Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth. Arthaśāstra is an treatise on statecraft. "Artha" itself refers to material wealth (one of the 4 Purusharths in Sanatan Philosophy-Dharm, Arth, Kama, Moksha) so the book is "Science of Wealth" but the book covers almost everything needed for efficient functioning of a state. Statecraft itself was a subject of much interest in ancient Indian political thought- it was a subject in universities and this particular Arthaśāstra was a part of course material for elite education in India for centuries (for ease of teaching, every book (there are 15 in total- these are right now just chapters and we do not know if they were entire books orignally) ends with a small memorab...
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