Que 1.1.

Give an account into the origin and evolution of the

state in ancient India.
OR
Write a short note on : Evolutionary theory.
OR
Write a short note on : Force theory.
OR
Write a short note on : Mystical theory.
OR
Write a short note on : Contract theory.
Answer
1. To look into the origin and evolution of the state has been one of the
greatest issues in political science.
2 Ancient Indian thinkers like Bhisma, Narada, Brihaspati, Kautilya,
Kamandaka also have looked at the problem.
3 On the basis of the writings of these thinkers we can detect following 4
important theories regarding the origin of the state in ancient India:
A Evolutionary theory :
1 This is the oldest theory of the origin of the state in India and has been
mentioned in the Atharva Veda.
2. According to this theory the state is the result ofevolutionary progress
and it didn't originate at a fixed time.
3. On the basis of AtharvaVeda several stages of the evolution of the state
can be traced.
4. According to Atharva Veda the earliest phase of human life was the
stage of vairajya or stateless state. It was a state of complete anarchy.
5 Subsequently, with the emergence of agriculture, stable life became
possible.

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 1-3 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

6 To fulfllthe needs of agricultural society the family emerged and the
head of the family became the first wielder of authority.
7. Further, the need of co-operation in the different realms of society led
to the emergence of sabha and samiti.
8. With the emergence of sabha and samiti organised political life began
which finally culminated in the emergence of the state.
B. Force theory :
1 Though ancient Indian political thinkers did not propound force theory
in asystematic way, force was considered to be an important factor in
the evolution of the state in India.
2 Earliest Aryan clans fought among themselves for pet animals (especially
for the cow), pastureland, settlements and sources of drinking water.
3. Only a strong and able warrior could lead the clan in such wars. So he
was given special status and the members of clan started obeying him.
4. This tendency continued in the days of peace also and subsequently the
leader became king.
C. Mystical theory :
1. This was the most popular theory of origin of the state in ancient India.
2. Kingship was given divine sanction and the king was considered not to
be the representative of God but himself a God.
3. It appears first in the epics and the law books of Manu, the king was
exalted far above ordinary mortals, through the magical powers of the
great royal sacrifices.
4. The magical power which pervaded the king at his consecration was
restored and strengthened in the course of his reign by further rites,
such as the ceremonial rejuvenation of the Vajapeya and the horse
sacrifice (Asvamedha).
5. The viewpoint which supports the theory of divine origin of state in
ancient India has been widely criticised by Western as well as Indian
scholars.
D. Contract theory :
1. Contract theory is the most extensively discussed theory of the origin of
the state in ancient India.
2. The reference to contract theory can be seen in the Buddhist and
brahmanical texts and Arthashastra of Kautilya.
3. Many scholars accept only the Buddhist sources as the authentic source
of contract theory.
4. According to them the brahmanical texts have a mixture of contract and
divine origin whereas Buddhist sources give a clear cut account of
contract theory.

Society State & Polity in India 1-4Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

5. Also in the Arthashastra contractual origin of kingship is not intended
to impose limitations on royal power. On the contrary, the obligation put
upon the people are burdensome and are designed to strengthen royal
authority.
6. This point is clearly brought out towards the close of the passage which
describes the contract theory of the origin of kingship.
7 It is argued that the king, who assures security and well-being to his
subjects by eliminating wrongful acts through coercion and taxes should
never be disregarded.
Hence Kautilya's contract theory is purported to buttress royal power.
 Que 1.2. Describe the stages of state formation in ancient India.

Answer
1. Six main stages in the history of ancient Indian polity can be identified.
2. The earliest stage was that oftribal military democracy in which tribal
assemblies, which had some place for women were mainly pre-occupied
with war. The age of Rig Veda was primarily a period of assemblies.
3. The second stage saw the break-up of the tribal polity under the stress
of constant conflicts between the rajanyakshatriya and the ordinary
businessman called the vis. The chiefs were helped by the priesthood
called the brahmins. This stage saw the beginning of taxes and classes or
varnas which came to be firmly established in the third stage.
4. The third stage was marked by the formation of the full-fledged
state. There arose large territorial monarchies of Kosala and Magadha
and tribal oligarchies in North-Western India and at the foot of the
Himalayas. For the first time large standing armies and organised
machinery were used for the collection of land revenue.
5. The fourth or the Maurya phase saw bureaucratic centralisation
based on the expanding economic activities of the state. The state with
the help of its bureaucracy controlled various aspects of the life of its
subjects.
6. The fifth stage was marked by the process of decentralised
administration in which towns, feudatories and military elements came
to the forefront in both the Deccan and North India. This was partly
neutralised by the emphasis on the divinity of the king.
7. The last stage, identical with the Gupta period, may be called the
period of proto-feudal polity. Land grants now played an important
part in the formation of the political structure and those made by the
Gupta feudatories conferred fiscal and administrative privileges on
priestly beneficiaries.
 Que 1.8. Write a short note on : Kautilya's saptanga (The seven
limbs) theory of state.
OR
Write a short note on : The seven limbs of the state.

Answer
Kautilya's saptanga (seven organs) theory of state illustrates a novel dimension
of state power that dialectically engages artha and dharma respectively.
Kautilya enumerated seven prakritis or essential organs of the state. They
are as follow :

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 1-9 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

i. Swami (The Ruler):

1 Swami means the monarch. He should be a native of the soil and born in
a noble family. He should be brave and well learned.
2 He makes all the important appointments and supervises the
government.
3 He has to be virtuous and should treat his subjects like his own children.
4. Kautilya has given extensive powers to the monarch but those powers
are meant for the welfare of themn subjects.
ii. Amatya (The Minister) :
1 It refers to the council of ministers as well as the supporting officials and
subordinate staffs.
2 They are meant for assisting the monarch in day to day affairs of the
state.
3. Amatya gives suggestions to king, collects taxes, develops new villages
and cities, ensures defense of the state and all other tasks as assigned by
the king.
ii. Janpada (The Population):
1 It refers to territory and people of the state.
2 The territory of the state should be fertile and should have abundance
of forest, rivers, mountains, minerals, wild life etc. It should have good
climate.
People should be loyal to their king, hard working, disciplined, religious,
ready to fight for their motherland, should pay taxes regularly and
happily.
iv. Durga (The Fortified Capital) :
1 The state should have sufficient number of forts across its territory at
strategic locations for ensuring defense against foreign invasions.
2 Forts should be built near hills/mountains, deserts, dense forests and
big water bodies.
3 They garrison soldiers, store food grains for emergency and also serve
as a hideout for the king when his life in danger.
V. Kosha (The Treasury) :
1 Finance is life blood of any state without which it is almost impossible to
run it.
2 Money is needed for paying salaries, building new infrastructure, etc.
3 The treasury should be full of money and valuable metals and gems.
4. It can be increased through taxation and plundering enemy states in
war.
vi. Danda (The Army):
1. The state should have a regular, large, disciplined and well trained
military. It is crucial for the security of the state.
2. The soldiers should be recruited from those families which are
traditionally associated with military.
3. The soldiers should be paid well and their families should be taken care
of in most suitable way.
4. Proper training and equipment should be made available.
5. The king should take care of the soldiers and the soldiers will be ready
to sacrifice even their life for him.
vii. Mitra (Ally and Friend) :
1. The monarch should maintain friendly relationship with traditional
friends of his forefathers. He should also make new friendships.
2. He should send gifts and other pleasantries for his friends.
3. They should be helped in times of emergency. They should be loyal.
4. Friends add to the power of the state.
5. They are also important from foreign trade view point.
 Que 1.11. Discuss ashrama or the stages of life according to
Indian philosophy.
Answer
1 The ashrama in Hinduism is one of four age-based life stages discussed
in Indian texts of the ancient and medieval eras.
2. The average life span of an individual is considered to be 100 years and
it is divided into four stages each stage having a time span of 25 years.
These four ashramas are :
A. Brahmacharyashrama or the Stage of Studentship :
1 This is the first stage of life. It is me ant for acquiring knowledge,
developing discipline and moulding character.
2 This stage starts with the ceremony called upanayanama or investiture
with the sacred thread.
3. Now the person became a brahmacharina, leading a celibate and
austere life as a student at the home of his teacher.
B. Gribhasthashrama or the Stage of Householder :
1 This stage starts at marriage when the student has completed his
studentship and is ready to take up the duties and responsibilities of
household life.
2. In this stage the individual gets married, earns money and begets
children.

Society State &Polity in India 1-14 Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

3. The individual pursues wealth (artha) and pleasure (kama) within the
limitsof the moral law (dharma).
C. Vanaprasthasharma or the Stage of Retirement from Active
Life:
1 After discharging all the duties and obligations as a householder, the
individual enters into the Vanaprastha stage.
2. It consists of the thirdquarter of person's life.
3 In this phase, after retiring from active life, the individual dedicates
himself toa life of spiritual contemplation.
4. He leaves his home and goes to the forest to become a hermit.
D. Sanyasashrama or the Stage of Renunciation :
1 This is the last stage of life.
2. Now the individual leaves his hermitage and becomes a homeless
wanderer (sanyasin) with all his earthly ties broken.
3. The sanyasin aspires and acts to attain liberation only.
Que 1.12. Give a brief account on marriage in ancient India.
Answer

1. Marriage or vivaha was a very important samskara in ancient India.

2. Marriage in ancient India had three main purposes:
i. Promotion of religion by performance of household sacrifices.
ii. Progency or the happy after life of father and his ancestors and
continuation of family line or kula.
iüi. Rati or sexual pleasure.
3. Manu and other law givers have mentioned about eight forms of
marriage:
i. Brahma Vivaha : This is considered to be the purest form of
marriage. In this form of marriage the father offers his daughter
who is decked with ornaments and richly dressed as a gift to a man
of good character and high learning.
ii. Daiva Vivaha: In the daiva form of marriage the father offers her
daughter as a dakshina (sacrificial fee) to a young priest who
officiates the yajña which is arranged by him.
iii. Arsa Vivaha: In arsa vivaha father of thebride gives his daughter
to the bridegroom after receiving a cow and a bull or two pairs of
these animals from the bridegroom.

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 1-15 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

iv. Prajapatya Vivaha :In thistype of marriage, the father offers
the girl to the bridegroom. But neither does he offer any dowry nor
does he demand bride-price.
V. Asura Vivaha : This is a form of marriage by purchase in which
the bridegroom has to give money to the father or kinsman of the
bride.
vi. Gandharva Vivaha : This was a marriage by consent of the boy
and the girl. Mutual love and consent of the bride and bridegroom
was the only condition required to bring about the union.
vii. Rakshasa Vivaha : This was marriage by capture in which the
girl was forcibly abducted from her home.
viii. Paishacha Vivaha: The abduction of amaiden while she is asleep
and in intoxication is called paishacha vivaha.
 Que 1.16. Give a brief account on slavery in ancient India.

Answer

1. The term that is most often used to refer to a slave in ancient Indian
texts is dasa.
2 This term may have been derived from the word "das" which means to
finish or terminate something.
3. It was associated with slaves because their work was to finish various
jobs.
4 During the Rig Vedic Period, the word dasa did not have the same
connotation. However, the term was used to denote a slave by the Later
Vedic Age.
5. Slaves were considered to be some formn of objects and there were
instances where they were listed as gift items.
6 Their work was primarily associated with domestic chores but they
could also be used as helpers for agriculture.
7 Since they were normally equated with other objects that were used
communally, they could have also been viewed as property of the whole
tribe.
8. Slaves are believed to have held a lower position than even the Shudras.
9. In the Mauryan Empire slavery was a well-established and accepted
institution.
10. It had approximately eight or nine categories of slaves.

Society State & Polity in India 1-18 Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

11. Slaves brought from another country, children of women slaves, slaves
who were purchased, prisoners of war, slaves who were inherited, slaves
received as presents, those who sold themselves as slaves, those who
were mortgaged and criminals whose punishment for their offence was
to serve as a slave.

12. Debts continued to remain one of the reasons behind slavery.

13. Complexities in the types of slaves only grew with the Gupta Period.
There were fifteen types of slaves present.
14. However, the slaves were not exploited and there were chances for a
slave to get manumission.
 Que 2.3. Write an essay on the origin and development of Brahmi
script in India.
OR
Write short note on : Brahmi script.
Answer
Origin and development of Brahmi script in India :
1, Brahmi is the modern name given to the one of the oldest scripts used
on the Indian subcontinent during the final centuries BCE and the early
centuries CE.
2 The most disputed point about the origin of the Brabmi seript is whether
it was a purely indigenous development or was inspired or derived from
scripts that originated outside India.
3 It is noted that the indigenous view is strongly preferred by Indian
scholars, whereas the idea of Semitic borrowing is preferred most often
by Western scholars.
4 Most scholars until recently thought that the Bralhmi scripts was derived
from the ancient Phoenician script which itselfis a derivative of the still
more ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, through the later Demotic
style.
5. Others thought that the South Arabian form of Phoenician was the
immediate source of Brahmi.

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 2-5 Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

6. But there are some basic divergences between Phoenician writing on
the one hand and Brahmi on the other, which make this affiliation a
little difficult to accept.
7. On the other hand, the agreements between the Mohen-jo-Daro script
and Brahmi would suggest that Brahmi was derived from the Mohen
jo-Daro script.
8. Of course, Brahmi could not be a perfect or full system of writing,
expressing in all its niceties the entire sound-system of the Aryan speech
of the time.
9 There was also a suggestion that the Brahmi letters originated
independently in India from pictures of objects.
10. The Brahmi letters have the great beauty of simplicity-they stand bold
and clear.
 Que 2.5. Give an account on the Harappan script of India.
OR
Write short note on : Harappan script.

Indian Literature, Culture & Tradition 2-6 Q (NCC-Sem-5&6)

Answer
1. The Harappan script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus valley
civilisation.
2 Most inscriptions are extremely short.
3. It is not clear if these symbols constitute a script used to record a language,
and the subject of whether the Indus symbols were a writing system is
controversial. 4. In spite of many attempts at decipherment, it is
undeciphered, and no underlying language has been identified.
5. There is no known bilingual inscription.
6 The script does not show any significant changes over time.
7. In the early 1970s, Iravatham Mahadevan published a corpus and
concordance of Indus inscriptions listing 3,700 seals and 417 distinct
signs in specific patterns.
8 The average inscription contains five signs, and the longest inscription
is only 17 signs long.
9. He also established the direction of writing as right to left.
Que 2.8. Write an essay on the Vedie literature.
OR
Write shorts notes on : Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and
Atharva-Veda.

Answer
1 The Vedas are the earliest known literature in India. The Vedas were
written in Sanskrit and were handed down orally from one generation
to the other.
2 The word Veda' literally means knowledge. In Hindu culture, Vedas are
considered as eternal and divine revelations.
They treat the whole world as one human family Vasudev Kutumbakam.
4 There are four Vedas, namely, the - Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda
and Atharva-Veda. Each Veda consists of the Brahmanas, the
Upanishads and the Aranyakas.
A The Rig-Veda Samhita:
1 The oldest of the four samhitas mentioned is the Rig samhita.
2 It is the name given to that samhita in which the priest intones the
mantras as an invitation to the Gods to put in an appearance at a yagya.
3 It is the oldest and the most extensive of the samhitas, and many of its
mantras have been borrowed in the other samhitas.
4. Rig samhita has been divided into ten mandals or parts and the mantras
that are included in each mandal are given the prefix 'sukta'.
5. There are 1028 suktas in the Rigveda. It took hundreds of years to
compose these suktas.
6 Rig veda provides almost complete information concerning the old Vedic
civilization. It contains picture of the oldest Aryan civilization and their
religion, way of life, thought and modes of behaviour.

Indian Literature, Culture & Tradition 2-8Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

7 This particular text also shows how philosophic thought, religion, ideas
and other related emotions and feelings came to be born in the mind of
man.

B. The Sama-Veda Samhita :

1 This is the second Veda. It contains some 1549 mantras of which only 72
are new, while the rest have all been derived from the Rigveda.
2 There are two parts to this veda. There are six kandas in the first and
nine in the latter part.
3 Each kanda has numerous smaller kandas which are also called 'sukta'.
There are 459 such small kandas.
4 The collection of the samhita of the Samaveda was made keeping in
mind the requirements of the singer priest.
5 Sama means song or singing. In the Samaveda everything is sung.
6 When the yagya was organised, the singer priest called out to the deity
in question by singing the mantras in a loud and sweet voice.
7. The Samaveda samhita has been divided into two parts - the purvarchika
and the uttararchika.
C. The Yajur.Veda Samhita :
1 Yaju is the name given to poetry, for which reason much of this Veda is
in poetry.
2 Etymologically the term Yajur Veda' means knowledge concerning
yagya.
It contains 40 chapters in which there are 2000 couplets.
4 It contains poetical sentences which were employed at the time of the
yagya for this reason yajur-veda is particularly concerned with
anushthana.
5 This Veda has two forms - the Shukla Yajurveda and the Krishna
Yajurveda.
5. This Veda has two forms - the Shukla Yajurveda and the Krishna
Yajurveda.
6. Each of the two forms has its own samhita, the samhita of the Shukla
Yajurveda being called the Vaajsaneyi sanhita.
7. The Shukla yajur-veda has two prominent branches of which each one
has a separate samhita.
8 There are many branches of the Krishna yajur-veda, of which only four
are existent.
9 Both the Krishna and the Shukla yajur-veda provide detailed description
of yagya rituals.
10. In the yajur-veda one finds graphic descriptions of the difference between
the caste and the varna systems.
11. There is mention of mixed castes also, along with descriptions of
handicrafts, science, trade, etc.

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 2-9Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

D. The Atharva-Veda Samhita :
1 In this Veda there are 20 kandas, 34 Prapathaka, 111 Anuvaka, 731
suktas and 1849 mantras.
2. In the Atharva-Veda little attention has been paid to the technique or
mode of yagya.
3 Rig-Veda derives its importance from its independent development and
from the fact that it is a record of ancient history. The same is true of the
Atharva-Veda also.
4. The chief difference between the two is that there was practically no
class distinction or brahmanic superiority in the Rig veda but it is clearly
in evidence in the Atharva veda.
5. Some of the mantras of the Atharva-Veda are concerned with such
occult activities as magic, curses, casting spells, ghosts, witches, causing
invisibility, and hypnotism.
6. The beginning of Ayurveda, medicine and pharmacology are to be found
in this Veda.
7. This Veda also provides some glimpses of the manner in which the
beliefs and ideas concerning life evolved in the Aryan period.
 5. The word purusartha means "attainments" or life purposes".
6. The aim of every person is to attain the four noble ends or purusartha.
These four purusarthas are:
A. Dharma :
1. Dharma or the principle of righteousness is considered to be the supremne
of the purusarthas.
2. Dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root dhr, which connotes to sustain,
support or uphold. Dharma has a wide range of meaning.
3. It is the essential foundation of something or of things in general, and
thus signifies truth'.
4. It is that which is established, customary, proper and therefore, means
traditional' or ceremonial.
5. It is one's duty,responsibility, imperative and thereby 'moral obligation'.
6. It is that which is right, virtuous, meritorious, and accordingly ethical.
7. It is that which is required, precepted, or permitted through religious
authority,and thus legal.
8. Hence, dharma in ancient India was a code of conduct for members of
the society.
B. Artha:
1. Artha is the second purusartha.
2. The term artha refers to worldly prosperity or wealth. It includes all the
material means of life.
3 Kautilya maintains that wealth is the basis of human requirements and
that social well-being depends ultimately on material prosperity.
4. Indian thinkers had recognised the pursuit of wealth as a legitimate
human aspiration. But artha must be acquired by right means.
C. Kama :
1 Kama means worldly pleasures or sensual pleasures.
2. It refers to some of the innate desires and urges in human beings.
3. In the narrow sense kama means sexual pleasure but in the wider
sense it involves sexual, emotional and aesthetic life all together.

Society State & Polity in India 1-12 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

D. Moksha :
1. It is the ultimate purusartha.
2 Moksha means salvation or liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
3. It is the summum bonumn of human existence.
Que 1.10. Discuss the Varnashrama system of ancient India.

Answer
1 Various texts talk of varnashrmadharma or the dharma of different
classes and dharma in the different stages of life.
2 In ancient India there was a common dharma for all members of society
which must be followed by all equally.
3
At the same timne there were different codes of conduct for different
classes or varnas called varna-dharma.

4 First reference of varna is seen in the Rig Veda. According to which

varnas originated from the different organs of the Prajapati or the
creator.
5 This varna hierarchy system was divided as follow :
A. Brahmins :
1 Brahmins were at the top of varna hierarchy.
2 They were believed to possess great spiritual powers. Thus they had a
divine existence.
3 In law, they claimed great privileges. Normally brahmins were exempt
from execution, torture and corporal punishment.
4. The main functions prescribed for brahmins were learning, teaching
and priesthood.
B. Kshatriya :
1 The second class was the ruling class described as kshatriya.
2 Kshatriyas represented heroism, courage and strength. They constituted
the warrior class.
3 The duty of kshatriyas was protection which had both internal and
external aspects.
4 External protection meant to protect the society from external invasion
where as internal protection meant governance in peace and protection
from anarchy.

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 1-13 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

5. Kshatriyas had the right to possess arms.

C. Vaishyas :
1 Vaishyas represented the trading and commercial class.
2 Though they were entitled to the services of the priesthood and to the
ceremony of yajñopavita, they were third in the social hierarchy.
3 The ideal vaishya possessed the expert knowledge of jewels, metals,
cloth, threads, spices, perfumes etc.
4 In this sense vaishyas were the ancient Indian businessmen.
D. Shudras :

1 Shudras were at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

2 They pursued the task of serving the other three varnas.

3
They were not twice born. They were deprived of various rights.
4
They were in fact second class citizens, on the fringes of Aryan society.
Que 2.9. What is Upanisad ? Discuss.

Answer
1 Literally speaking, the word, «Upanisad, means sitting down near".
2 The sense most commonly signified by the word upanisad is the esoteric
teaching imparted by the teacher to the pupil who sits (sad), near him
(upa), in a closed select (ni), group.
3 The Upanisads are also called the Vedanta, because they represent the
concluding portion of the apauruseya Veda, or the ultimate end and aim
of the teachings of the Veda.
4 The Upanisads are the first recorded attempt at systematic, though not
systematized, philosophizing.
5 They are one of the most significant sources of the spiritual wisdom of
India, and are traditionally regarded as one of the three prasthanas
(source books) of Indian philosophy.
6. Upanisads are concerned with the contemplative-realizational rather
than with the ritualistic-ceremonial aspect of the spiritual life of the
people.
7. There are over 200 Upanisads. The ten chief ancient Upanisads are the
Isa, the Kena, the Katha, the Prasna, the Mundak, the Mandukya, the
Taittiriya, the Aitereya, the Chandogya and the Brhdaranyaka.

Indian Literature, Culture & Tradition 2-10 Q NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

8. Apart from these principal Upanisads there are many others, but they
are essentially sectarian in character and pseudo-philosophical in
content.

9 They are usually divided into various classes, such as Slmanya-Vedanta,

Yoga, Sannyasa, Saiva, Vaisnava, and Sakta, in accordance with their
main tendencies.
10. The Upanisads gave the people a philosophy but not a religion.
 Que 2.14. What is Purana ?

Answer
1. The term purana means, "that which lives from ancient times".
2 The Puranas are a very important branch, ofthe Hindu sacred literature.
3. They enable us to know the true import of the ethos, philosophy, and
religion of the Vedas.
4 The Puranas were written with the object of popularizing the truths
taught in the Vedas by presenting them in relation to specific personages
and to the events of their lives.
5 The real function of the Puranas is to explain, illustrate, and amplify the
Vedas.
6. The main value of the Puranas consists in amplifying, enforcing, and
illustrating the spiritual truths stated in the Vedas in the form of
injunctions and commands.
7 The principal (Maha) Puranas are eighteen in number. There are also
eighteen secondary (Upa) Puranas. These contain about 4,00,000 verses
on the whole and relate toa vast variety of topics.
8 Purana is traditionally defined as comprising five main topics : sarga
(creation), pratisarga (dissolution and recreation), vamsa (divine
genealogies), manvantara (ages of Manus), and vasmanuchari
(genealogies of kings).

Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 2-13Q (NCC-Sem-5 &6)

9 The eighteen Mahapuranas are classified either as sattvika, tamasa,
and rajas or in accordance with the divinity (such as Visnu, Siva, Brahma,
Devi) which they glorify.
Indian Tradition, Culture & Society 2-17 Q (NCC-Sem-5 & 6)

Que 2.21. Write short note on : Kautilya's Arthashastra.

Answer
1. The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft,
economic policy and military strategy.
2. Kautilya is traditionally credited as the author of the text.
3 The title Arthashastra is often translated to the science ofwealth", but
the book Arthashastra has a broader scope.
4. The Arthasastra is divided into 15 adhikaranas and 180 prakaranas and
embraces economics, sociology, politics, etc.
5. The major portion is devoted to the problems of administration. It deals
with the following elements of the kingdom :
training;
duties and vices of the king;
recruitment and duties of the amatyas and mantrins;
iv. civil and criminal administration; and
V. guilds and corporations.
6. Republics form the theme of one whole chapter. Further, the text
enunciates the priniples ofinterstate relations and describes the military
organisation.
7. It suggests methods to win wars and acquire popularity in the conquered
territories.
8. A distinguishing feature of its contents is the exaltation of the central
authority and the assignment of many social and economic functions to
the king.
9. A good part of Kautilya's arthashastra is concerned with politics.
10. However, Kautilya makes a deliberate and conscious attempt to free
politics from the influence of religion and morality.
11. Thus the Arthasastra is not only a treatise on the science of wealth but
also a treatise on political science.