CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 82 of 120

Correct — D, Dhamma. Kautilya's saptanga theory in the Arthashastra describes the state as a body with seven limbs, or prakritis: swamin, the ruler; amatya, the minister and the body of high officials; janapada, the territory together with the people who live on it; durga, the fortified capital; kosha, the treasury; danda or bala, the army and the coercive authority behind it; and mitra, the ally. Three of those seven are on the option list, and dhamma is not one of them. Dhamma belongs to a different author and a different purpose altogether: it is Ashoka's Prakrit rendering of dharma, the ethical code of tolerance, non-injury, respect for elders and right conduct that he proclaimed in his edicts and enforced through officers called dhamma-mahamattas, roughly a century and a half before the Arthashastra took its present shape. Kautilya's book is a manual of statecraft and administration; Ashoka's dhamma is a public morality. Mixing the two is the error the question is built to catch.

• (a)Amatya — Amatya is the second limb — the minister, and by extension the whole body of senior officials through whom the ruler governs. It is squarely part of the saptanga.
• (b)Janapada — Janapada is the third limb, the territory and its population taken together. Kautilya treats land and people as a single element of the state, which is one of the more striking features of the scheme.
• (c)Durga — Durga is the fourth limb, the fortified capital or stronghold. The Arthashastra devotes considerable attention to the siting and construction of the fort, which is why it appears as an element of the state in its own right.

The Arthashastra is a treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy attributed to Kautilya, also called Chanakya or Vishnugupta, and associated by tradition with the court of Chandragupta Maurya. It survives in a text that scholars date over a long period rather than to a single hand. Its saptanga theory is an organic conception of the state: the seven limbs are ranked in descending order of importance, so that a defect in the ruler is graver than a defect in the treasury, and the health of the whole depends on all seven functioning together.

The seven limbs are the sort of list that repays learning as a sequence rather than as a set, because examiners test the odd one out. Swamin, amatya, janapada, durga, kosha, danda, mitra — ruler, minister, territory and people, fort, treasury, army, ally. Once the sequence is fluent, an intruder is obvious. Dhamma is a particularly good intruder because it is Mauryan, it is a familiar word, and it belongs to the same century in most students' notes; but it is Ashoka's word for an ethical policy, not Kautilya's word for a component of the state. If in doubt, ask whether the item is a thing the state is made of, which is what a limb must be. An ethical code is not.

• The saptanga: swamin (ruler), amatya (minister), janapada (territory and people), durga (fort), kosha (treasury), danda or bala (army), mitra (ally).
• The limbs are ranked, with the ruler first and the ally last.
• Janapada combines land and population into a single element rather than treating them separately.
• Dhamma is Ashoka's term, proclaimed in his edicts and administered by officers called dhamma-mahamattas.
• The Arthashastra is a manual of statecraft and administration attributed to Kautilya, also known as Chanakya or Vishnugupta.

• Placing dhamma inside the saptanga because both belong to the Mauryan period.
• Splitting janapada into land and people as two separate limbs; the Arthashastra treats them as one.
• Forgetting mitra, the ally, which is the limb most often dropped from a recited list.

As a which-is-not item on the seven limbs, as a match between a limb and its meaning, or as a question on what the Arthashastra is primarily about.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In Kautilya's saptanga theory, the term janapada refers to

  • (a)the treasury of the state
  • (b)the territory together with its people
  • (c)the fortified capital
  • (d)the standing army

  Answer(b) the territory together with its people — Kautilya treats land and population as a single limb.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The officers appointed by Ashoka to propagate and supervise his dhamma were called

  • (a)amatyas
  • (b)rajukas
  • (c)dhamma-mahamattas
  • (d)yuktas

  Answer(c) dhamma-mahamattas — a Mauryan office created for the purpose, and unconnected with Kautilya's saptanga.