The Mauryan Empire's Arthashastra: Statecraft and Spies

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Kautilya's Arthashastra, the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft that shaped the Mauryan Empire. They discuss its discovery in 1905 by Rudrapatna Shamasastry, its pragmatic advice on espionage, taxation, and diplomacy, and its contrast with Ashoka's later Dhamma. Learn about the spymaster's network, the 40 types of spies, and the kings who employed poison as a tool. Did Chanakya really engineer Chandragupta's rise? And how did this ruthless realism coexist with Buddhism? The hosts examine the contested authorship, the text's rediscovery, and its influence on Mauryan governance—from Pataliputra's palace intrigue to the border provinces under Bindusara. #Arthashastra #Kautilya #Chanakya #MauryanEmpire #ChandraguptaMaurya #Bindusara #RudrapatnaShamasastry #IndianHistory #Statecraft #Espionage #AncientIndia #Mysore #Pataliputra #Dhamma #Ashoka #Saptanga #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo