teaching the Arthasastra

[Patrick Olivelle]

Allen: the only good and accurate translation is by Kangle. His 
three-volume work originally published by the University of Bombay 
has recently been reprintd by Motilal. Try to keep him from the 
Penguin translation by Rangarajan, who has not training in the field 
(his degree was in Physics and he was a foreign service officer) and 
has also mutilated the text by shifting passages around.

Patrick




>Can anyone suggest which translation of the Arthasastra would be 
>best for a professor of political science to add to a general 
>graduate level course on political theory, and also which background 
>material to recommend both for him to learn about the book and to 
>commend to his students?  His training is solely in Western poltical 
>thought.
>
>This is posted on both H-Asia and Indology.
>
>
>Thanks,
>
>Allen Thrasher
>
>Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D., Senior Reference Librarian
>South Asia Team, Asian Division
>Library of Congress, Jefferson Building 150
>101 Independence Ave., S.E.
>Washington, DC 20540-4810
>tel. 202-707-3732; fax 202-707-1724; athr at loc.gov
>The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the 
>Library of Congress.