The Arthasastra: Selections from the Classic Indian Work on Statecraft (Hackett Classics)

The only extant treatise on statecraft from classical India, the Arthsastra is an invaluable resource for understanding ancient South Asian political thought; it also provides a comprehensive and unparalleled panoramic view of Indian society during the period between the Maurya (320-185 BCE) and Gupta (320-497 CE) empires.

This volume offers modern English translations of key selections, organized thematically, from the Arthasastra. A general Introduction briefly traces the arc of ancient South Asian history, explains the classical Indian tradition of statecraft, and discusses the origins and importance of the Arthasastra. Thorough explanatory essays and notes set each excerpt in its intellectual, political, and cultural contexts.

• The Arthashastra (Penguin classics)
• The Law Code of Manu (Oxford World's Classics)
• The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation (Classics of Ancient China)
• Leviathan: With selected variants from the Latin edition of 1668 (Hackett Classics)
• The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life
• All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age
• Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo (Hackett Classics)
• Tao Te Ching
• Philosophy and Real Politics
• Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings