Agriculture, Botany & Everyday Tech
Statecraft-era agronomy and irrigation
c. 3rd c. BCEKautilya (Chanakya)ArthashastraPan-Indian / unspecified
300 BCE
Detailed administration of farming, irrigation, crop planning, and resource management.
- Dated
- 300–201 BCE
- As scholars put it
- c. 3rd c. BCE
- Originator
- Kautilya (Chanakya)
- Source text
- Arthashastra
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Agriculture, Botany & Everyday Tech
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Comparable administrative agronomy in the West is much later.
Fair to say
A treatise on governance and economics; its dating and single-authorship are debated.
Path to modern innovation
Early scientific management of agriculture and water.
Transmission
Indigenous statecraft tradition.
Primary sources
- 4Kautilya ArthasastraUnreviewed
- 5Arthasastra Of Kautilya And The Canakya SutraUnreviewed
References
- 1Arthashastra
- 2P. Olivelle (trans.)
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-053 on GitHub.