The Ancient Economic History

Ancient Indian Economic History refers to the economic activities that happened in the Indian ancient time when the world was not much aware of the economy and the word used in the history was “Arthashastra”. Ancient Indian History itself is the root of many great things globally. The time period of Ancient India starts from 3000BC to 500CE which was the end of the Gupta dynasty too. As we all know, the father of economics, Adam Smith, was an 18th-century Scottish economist but no one teaches us about Kautilya also known as Chanakya or Vishnugupta (350- 275 BCE). Chanakya was the father of Arthashashtra (which means Economics). He wrote the book Kautilya Arthashastra. He was the Prime Minister under the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta Maurya was the ruler of the Iron Age Indian Empire who expanded a geographically-extensive kingdom based in Magadha and founded the Maurya dynasty. He reigned from 324 BCE to 293 BCE. Chanakya was the one who made Chandragupta Maurya the king and established the Maurya dynasty. He had made possible a journey of a poor guy from shepherd to the king of the Maurya dynasty. He was a magician of economics and politics. Many great works had been done by him which include books on the nature of government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics, markets and trade, the methods for screening ministers, diplomacy, theories on war, the nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of a king.

The Arthashastra is also known as Kautilya Arthashashtra. Kautilya wrote this book for his King Chandragupta Maurya and stated in its preface that it has been written as a guide for “those who govern”. Kautilya wanted the establishment and operation of the machinery through which the king preserves his integrity and solidarity of the state and generates power. It explores the issues of social welfare, the collective ethics that hold a society together, advising the king that in times and in areas devastated by famine, epidemic and such acts of nature, or by war, he should initiate public projects such as creating irrigation waterways and building forts around major strategic holdings and towns and exempt taxes on those affected.

It is astonishing to observe that several concepts of present-day management theories have been properly explained by Kautilya in his book. As in present-day management, the importance of vision, mission and motivation was captured in Arthashastra. Kautilya evolved an elaborate hierarchy under the king. The King appoints Amatya (The Prime Minister). Amatya operates day to day machinery of the state through a council of officials consisting of Mantris (The Ministers), Senapati (Defence Minister), purohit (The Chief Justice), and Yuvaraj, (The Hier Apparent) as the time changed and the Yuvaraj are not there in the present democratic Indian Economy. Kautilya weaves a design of a tall hierarchy for governance going down to the level of the village through his concept of Mandalas. Gram Panchayat and Panchayati Raj set up that were adopted by the Government of India can be considered as a logical derivative of Kautilya’s attempt to bring the administration to the lowest appropriate level in the machinery of state.

The Arthshastra was written in Sanskrit and was further translated into many other languages. Arthashashtra was rediscovered in 1905 by Rudrapatna Shamasastry and got published in 1909 and in 1915 in the English language. The translation project was termed to be one of the most difficult by R. Shamasastry. Arthashashtra is divided into 15 book titles, 150 chapters and 180 topics as follows:

Title	English	Title	English
Raja	King	Yuvaraja	Prince
Senapati	Chief, armed forces	Parishad	Council
Nagarika	Town Manager	Pauravya vaharika	City overseer
Mantri	Minister	Karmika	Work officer
Samnidhatr	Treasurer	Karmantika	Director of factories
Antapala	Frontier commander	Antar Vimsaka	Head
Dauvarika	Chief guard	Gopa	Revenue officer
Purohita	Chaplain	Karanika	Accounting officer
Prasastr	Administrator	Nayaka	Commander
Upayukta	Junior officer	Pradeshtri	Magistrates
Sunyapala	Regent	Adhyaksha	Superintendent

We had much other evidence to know about our ancient economic achievements but that vanished timely by many intruders. One of the pieces of evidence to know about our ancient economy is the Indus Valley Civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization is also the evidence for the Ancient Indian Economy. The Indus Valley civilisation, the first known permanent and predominantly urban settlement, flourished between 3500 BCE and 1800 BCE. It featured an advanced and thriving economic system. Its citizens practised agriculture, domesticated animals, made sharp tools and weapons from copper, bronze and tin, and traded with other cities. Evidence of well-laid streets, drainage systems and water supply in the valley's major cities, Dholavira, Harappa, Lothal, Mohenjo-Daro and Rakhigarhi, reveals their knowledge of urban planning. The Indus Valley civilisation is one of the four oldest civilizations and economical life was there. All the conditions were fulfilled in the Indus Valley Civilization to be called an Ancient Economic Civilization.

But the Mughals and East Indian Company destroyed many other proofs and evidence about the great achievements of Ancient Indian culture and some of that also got vanished by the modern education system. We are developing day by day and pushing ourselves towards being modern but it doesn’t mean that we have to lose our legacies made by our Rishi Munis and our ancestors. India was also known as “Sone ki chidiya” not just because of its wealth but also due to our rishi munis and the storage of knowledge.

It is all our compulsion to study the bookish language and what all the world is studying right now but it is our duty to initiate our ancestor’s and our rishi muni's legacy and pass them to the next generations. There is a quote “To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source and a tree without a root”. Without our ancestor’s legacy, we are just a kite, that means we are just dependent upon a string which could be cut out by anyone. To grow more we have to be a tree with vast roots inside the earth, and the roots are the knowledge passed from our ancestors, which we should spread not only in India but also all over the world.

Mr Yashraj Tanwar, MA Economics, (Batch AY2022-23), Department of Economics, Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences (FBSS), Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (MRIIRS), Faridabad, Haryana. yashrajtanwar2002@gmail.com