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Michael Liebig & Saurabh Mishra: The Arthaśātra in a Transcultural Perspective
 | Pentagon Press recently published a new book by Michael Liebig (Department of Political Science, SAI) and Saurabh Mishra (Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi). The book is entitled "The Arthaśātra in a Transcultural Perspective: Comparing Kautilya with Sun-Zi, Nizam al-Mulk, Barani and Machiavelli". |
Abstract:
Political Science and International Relations are still predominantly Eurocentric and based on European intellectual resources, while India, with a long civilisational and philosophical history, is credited with no contribution to the evolution of the Political Science and IR theory. Notably, Kautilya’s Arthaśātra, a foundational text of Political Science and IR theory, has, so far, been ignored or marginalized in these disciplines. The volume explores the conditions of the possibility of a ‘migration’ of Kautilyan thought-figures from South Asia to the Mediterrean. In this idea-migration - and hybridization -- across cultural and historical spaces, pre-Islamic and Islamic Persianate cultural space is of special significance.
Chapters:
Political Science and International Relations are still predominantly Eurocentric and based on European intellectual resources, while India, with a long civilisational and philosophical history, is credited with no contribution to the evolution of the Political Science and IR theory. Notably, Kautilya’s Arthaśātra, a foundational text of Political Science and IR theory, has, so far, been ignored or marginalized in these disciplines. The volume explores the conditions of the possibility of a ‘migration’ of Kautilyan thought-figures from South Asia to the Mediterrean. In this idea-migration - and hybridization -- across cultural and historical spaces, pre-Islamic and Islamic Persianate cultural space is of special significance.
Chapters:
- ‘Introduction’ by Michael Liebig and Saurabh Mishra;
- ‘Kautilya Redux? Re-use, Hybridity, Trans-cultural Flow and Resilience of the State in India’ - Subrata K. Mitra (ISAS);
- ‘Understanding Kautilya’s Arthaśāstra: Origination, Migration and Diffusion’ - Pradeep Kumar Gautam (IDSA);
- ‘Kautilya and Machiavelli in a comparative perspective’ - Michael Liebig (SAI);
- ‘Arthaśāstra - Reflections on Thought and Theory’ - Medha Bisht’ (South Asian University, New Delhi);
- ‘Rājadharma, legitimacy and sovereignty in the Arthaśāstra’ - Saurabh Mishra (IDSA),
- ‘Kautilya and Sun- Zi on War and Strategy: Exploratory Comparative Analysis’ - M.S. Prathibha (IDSA),
- ‘Fatāwā-ye jahāndāri: Hybrid Political Theory in the Delhi Sultanate (Perso-Islamic and Endogenous Traditions of Statecraft in India)’ - Seyed Hossein Zarhani (SAI).
25 Jan 2017
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