A Forgotten Sanskrit Text on Post-Arthaśāstra Economic Policy

Wojtilla, Gyula (2005) A Forgotten Sanskrit Text on Post-Arthaśāstra Economic Policy. Acta Antiqua, 45 (2-3). pp. 343-351. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

Economic thought and the principles of economic policy appear in a full-fledged form in the Arthasastra of Kautilya, a text which has gained its present form between the fourth century B.C. and second century A.D. Although a great deal of ideas in this text concerning government and politics reappear in the early medieval times economicpolicy fell into totaloblivion. Kasyapiyakrsisukti, a Sanskrit text tentatively dated from the early medieval period has come down to us in a single manuscript and belonged to the group of forgotten Sanskrit works up to the recent times. Verses 683-777 form a lucid treatise on economic policy which had its roots in the Arthasastra and at the same time contain new ideas originating from the contemporary conditions.The type of economydepicted here reminds us of the situation in early medieval Europe.

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