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Chanakya
- voldacar 6y agoThe arthashastra is brilliant. Much older and far more Machiavellian than Machiavelli. Highly recommended if you are interested in ancient thought
- captn3m0 6y agoAlso far more misogynistic.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- rudiv 6y agoEdit: This comment deemed unsavory by desi HN gang.
- warranty 6y agoFemale form of deities are the only ones that can be worshipped for bloodlust. Female deities aren’t feminists they want blood of enemies flowing.
- thewhitetulip 6y agoI couldn't believe it when I read it. And they say the society in Manusmriti is much more misogynistic than this book! And this book is bad. Really bad.
- warranty 6y agoMisogyny keeps civilization alive.
- actuator 6y agoIf we judge any ancient work by our current morals, we would most likely be left wanting. This book was written almost 2500 years back.
- crispyporkbites 6y agoI half agree with this. IMO we should absolutely throw out content that doesn’t fit within modern morals, given our modern morals are objectively more correct and humanist than anything prior (if that is not the case we should challenge our morals not the prior text). However we can still learn from and stand to lose a great deal by destroying content with morally questionable angles. So what we really want is an interpretation / disclaimer in front of this work that makes it clear how we should interpret it through a framework that applies today without bringing off-topic morality questions into play.
- actuator 6y agoYeah, I agree with this. The comment which I replied to which has been flagged now stated something like, "this is so misogynistic". Hence, my comment that prevailing morals were largely different then. One can choose to leave the misogynistic things yet still appreciate his work on politics and economics.
- abhayhegde 6y agoI believe in seperating people from their brilliant works. Appreciating their work/thoughts does not necessarily mean condoning their behavior. One should never accept or propagate inappropriate social cues. However, that does not mean one should lose an opportunity to be wiser by reading and assimilating thier wisdom. As such nobody is perfect and who ever it may be, let us pick the positive qualities from them, on our way towards becoming a nicer person.
- max_ 6y agoThanks for the recommendation. I was looking for something like this to add in my personal library.
- rramadass 6y agoYou might find my comment in this thread listing some book recommendations, useful.
- actuator 6y agoIs the english translation good enough or reading it in Sanskrit is recommended? If yes, any translation that you recommend?
- rramadass 6y agoYou might find my comment in this thread listing some book recommendations, useful.
- actuator 6y agoOther than his works, he was the prime minister in Maurya empire, credited with its rise. Maurya empire is considered to be one of the greatest Indian empires along with Guptas(known for progress in science, medicine) and Cholas(mercantile empire crossing oceans). It spread west upto present day Afghanistan at its peak. Maurya king Ashoka is quite famous because of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Kalinga_war_and_conversion_to_Buddhism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka#Kalinga_war_and_convers...
- humility 6y agoInterestingly enough he became politically active after India's defeat at the hands of Alexander the Great, and aided in creating an empire that unified the whole of India, which was unprecedented until then.
- actuator 6y agoIs there any recommended reading you have on this? In general, all the foreign conquests that succeeded in India even later were when it was fragmented into smaller kingdoms.
- ViralBShah 6y agoI'll highly recommend "Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor". https://www.amazon.com/Ashoka-Search-Indias-Lost-Emperor/dp/1468300717 https://www.amazon.com/Ashoka-Search-Indias-Lost-Emperor/dp/... Not so much about Chanakya, but about that period in India, and describes in depth how the history was pieced together.
- muststopmyths 6y agoProbably doesn't exist, since "India's defeat at the hands of Alexander" never happened. He barely made it to the border of the largest empire in contemporary India, by geography. Even the parts of current Pakistan he conquered were nowhere near major powers in the subcontinent. That was as far as he got before his army rebelled and forced him to abandon further conquest.
- Delfino 6y agoNeat, thanks for sharing. I'm currently in Chanakyapuri near Chandragupta Marg. I now understand the significance of those names a bit more.
- rudiv 6y agoYes, we named the diplomatic enclave after Chanakya, following his advice of giving foreign missions palatial estates in exchange for tiny apartments.
- 01100011 6y agoIt's nice to see some Asian history for a change. In the west, it seems as we only have an interest in the historical narratives of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Europe. Dense civilizations existed in South and East Asian stretching back thousands of years and our history classes and popular culture barely touch on them. I'd love to see more pop culture(games, movies, etc) explore the history of what is now India, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.
- swamy_g 6y agoI think we'll have to do this on our own and not rely on Hollywood or studios from the west. Bahubali was probably a good start. But more needs to be done. I'm starting to wonder whether it's a question of talent or question of capital. I seriously hope it's the latter.
- t0ughcritic 6y agoPropensity to spend on games possibly as well
- actuator 6y agoI am assuming for games at least, the market in say India is not big enough that it can cover the cost of making something high budget. Once the market becomes bigger in terms of ability to spend, there might be more content. For example Japan, China have big enough markets and both have dedicated games in Total War series on parts of their history.
- ShorsHammer 6y agoThe Total War series originally started with Japan and later went onto Western wars despite being made by British developers, this comment seems to suggest it's the reverse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_War_(video_game_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_War_(video_game_series)
- chancemehmu 6y agoI would say things are starting to look good even for India. Check out Raji the game ,which imo is high quality and looks interesting. The gaming movement in India got a big boost after PUBG, COD, etc. but ofcourse it’s still in a very nascent stage.
- dr_dshiv 6y agoSocrates reportedly met an Indian philosopher in Athens, according to Aristoxenus, student of Aristotle [1]. Some of Ashoka's pillars had Greek inscriptions [2] Greece and India used to share borders. A Greek king became Buddhist. [2] [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249942188_Some_Remarks_about_a_Meeting_between_Socrates_and_an_Indian_Aristoxenus'_fragment_53 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249942188_Some_Rema... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism
- pratik661 6y agoThere were lots of Greek speakers in India at the time. There was an Indo-Bactrian Greek kingdom in modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan long after the Greeks were conquered by the Romans (around 300 CE). A lot of early Buddhists were Greek. Lots of Indian statues have Greek style columns. I'm still mind blown by how connected the ancient world was.
- dr_dshiv 6y agoMany thousands of undiscovered manuscripts, invaluable to India's literary legacy, are rotting away as we speak. There is very little financial support for archeology or manuscriptology in India. So much has been lost already. And, of the estimated known 40 million manuscripts, no one is being trained to read and translate them! Opportunity for philanthropy? https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ancient-manuscripts-india-sanskrit-namami/story/1/17406.html https://www.dailyo.in/arts/ancient-manuscripts-india-sanskri... https://www.newindianexpress.com/thinkedu2020/2020/jan/08/hidden-treasure-95-of-indias-ancient-manuscripts-yet-to-be-translated-says-bibek-debroy-2086890.html https://www.newindianexpress.com/thinkedu2020/2020/jan/08/hi... https://namami.gov.in/manuscriptology-polygraphy https://namami.gov.in/manuscriptology-polygraphy
- natcombs 6y ago> It's a great opportunity for philanthropy With 189 million people undernourished or starving in India, why not donate to help with that first? https://www.indiafoodbanking.org/hunger https://www.indiafoodbanking.org/hunger
- dr_dshiv 6y agoBecause we should do both. If we only wait to preserve culture until all people are fed, then we will have lost those manuscripts forever.
- natcombs 6y agoWhich is the priority? > we will have lost those manuscripts forever. You do realize that starvation results in millions of lives lost forever. That’s why I donate to food & local water/well charities Today. Manuscripts can be photographed and transcribed later.
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoIn recent decades, Hindutva forces have gained more and more political influence in India, and their rhetoric continually emphasizes that India is home to ancient Vedic wisdom unparalled in the world, and that Sanskrit is some kind of super-language handed down by the gods millions of years ago (instead of a codified form for sacramental use of an ordinary language spoken just a few thousand years ago). And yet, while many Indians are swelling with patriotic pride at their country’s inheritance, actual classical philology is dying and largely done by interested foreigners. Not only are the manuscripts not being adequately studied within India, but deep practical knowledge of Sanskrit is dying out, too. Yes, of course you’ll hear urban myths about whole villages speaking Sanskrit or whatever, but this is always huge exaggeration that gets perpetuated for decades.
- bluishgreen 6y agoTIL: That Chanakya's work was lost to history and was rediscovered in 1909. And the manuscripts that contained the treatise was donated to the scholars by a pandit from my home town (Tanjore or the modern Thanjavur). That drastically alters my sense of my own history. We knew of the big temple[1] circa 1000AD and all the scholarly thinking that went on around that time and the town has several UNESCO World Heritage sites from that period. But to house a script from circa 200 BCE, that is new to me. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihadisvara_Temple,_Thanjavur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brihadisvara_Temple,_Thanjavur
- dr_dshiv 6y agoThat's amazing. Just imagine what other manuscripts might be found in temples around India...
- rramadass 6y agoFor people interested in actually studying Chanakya's writings (their sweep is magisterial), the following are recommended; * The First Great Political Realist: Kautilya and His Arthashastra by Roger Boesche - A very good (and short) overview of the Arthashastra. * King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya's Arthashastra translated by Patrick Olivelle - A good modern translation of the complete Arthashastra. * Kautilya's Arthashastra: An Intellectual Portrait: The Classical Roots of Modern Politics in India by Subrata K. Mitra and Michael Liebic - A scholarly and challenging work on the relevance and applications of the Arthashastra.
- 082349872349872 6y agoInteresting to see sock puppets already in use.
- known 6y agoCasteism is an Organized mafia operating in South Asia since 700 BC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda which is evident from the fact that 50% Ministers in Modi Cabinet are Brahmin while they are just 3% in India; https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/220938900 https://www.quora.com/Which-caste-is-looting-India/answers/2...
- jagannathtech 6y agoThis is complete bullshit.