Looking Ancient India through the Lens of Thiruvalluvar and Kautilya: An Exploratory Exercise

Abstract

Ancient India is an extremely rich store house of knowledge. The great thoughts and ideas of the intellectual leaders about development, society and governance have been not only inspiring for all time to come but also of abiding interest since time immemorial for those who have special interest in ancient Indian civilizations. Of them two names, namely Kautilya and Tiruvalluvar , residing in two furthest corners of the country, stand out prominently. Kautilaya’s Arthashastra and Tiruvalluvar’ s Thirukkural are known for their wise canvas and outstanding ideas. The former served as a top counsel to king Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra,( modernday Patna), while the latter was a common weaver in today’s Chennai. Apart from the numerous other recurring themes in their works, their views on polity, economy and governance are widely acclaimed and appreciated. In this paper an attempt will be made to bring together in one place and their valuable contributions and to analyse their contemporary relevance. The objectives of the paper are: • to call attention to the fundamental political and economic issues presented by Kautilya and Thiruvalluvar • to ascertain their relative prominence in pre-Indo-European economic and political philosophy • to establish the relevance of their opinions in the context of current India's political and economic structure