Written around 400 B.C. byampnbspKautilya the Indian Machiavelli THE ARTHASHASTRA was thought lost for more than a thousand years.ampnbspIt was rediscovered in 1905 when scholar Rudrapatnam Shamashastry was asked to catalogue an unpromising pile of palm leaf manuscripts and suddenly found himself holding a complete copy of the longlost masterpiece. ampnbspShamashastry published an English translation in 1915 to worldwide acclaim. Until that time Western orientalists believed that Indian government had copied their structure from the Greeks following Alexander the Greats incursion into the subcontinent.ampnbspNow it was plain that the art of government and Kingship was an indigenous achievement with Greek administrations possibly copying that of India.This Indian Classic is a unique comprehensive guide for Kings on the means foul or fair of running a viable state.ampnbspNothing is omitted from taxes on prostitutes and care of livestock through Elephant training battle tactics and the making of alliances to the use of deception threat and kidnapping to further Royal policy.ampnbspAlso included are magical incantations and methods of neutralising enemies as well as inconvenient brothers or sons by means of ambush poison and the use of fiery spies.ampnbspAn eyeopening amoral discourse on the wiles and stratagems to be mastered by any aspiring conqueror