King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India presents an English translation of Kautilya's Arthashastra (AS.) along with detailed endnotes. When it was discovered in 1923, the Arthashastra was described as perhaps the most precious work in the whole range of Sanskrit literature, an assessment that still rings true. This new translation of this significant text, the first in close to half a century takes into account a number of important advances in our knowledge of the texts, inscriptions, and archeological and art historical remains from the period in Indian history to which the AS. belongs (2nd-3rd century CE, although parts of it may be much older). The text is what we would today call a scientific treatise. It codifies a body of knowledge handed down in expert traditions. It is specifically interested in two things: first, how a king can expand his territory, keep enemies at bay, enhance his external power, and amass riches; second, how a king can best organize his state bureaucracy to consolidate his internal power, to suppress internal enemies, to expand the economy, to enhance his treasury through taxes, duties, and entrepreneurial activities, to keep law and order, and to settle disputes among his subjects. The book is accordingly divided into two sections: the first encompassing Books 1-5 deals with internal matters, and the second spanning Books 6-14 deals with external relations and warfare. The AS. stands alone: there is nothing like it before it and there is nothing after it-if there were other textual productions within that genre they are now irretrievably lost. Even though we know of many authors who preceded Kautilya, none of their works have survived the success of the AS. Being "textually" unique makes it difficult to understand and interpret difficult passages and terms; we cannot look to parallels for help. The AS. is also unique in that, first, it covers such a vast variety of topics and, second, it presents in textual form expert traditions in numerous areas of human and social endeavors that were handed down orally. Expert knowledge in diverse fields communicated orally from teacher to pupil, from father to son, is here for the first time codified in text. These fields include: building practices of houses, forts, and cities; gems and gemology; metals and metallurgy; mining, forestry and forest management; agriculture; manufacture of liquor; animal husbandry, shipping, and the management of horses and elephants- and so on. Finally, it is also unique in presenting a viewpoint distinctly different from the Brahmanical "party line" we see in most ancient Indian documents.

"The law codes of ancient India"--Cover.

The Present Work Discusses The Legal Organisations In Ancient India And Presents An Analytical Study Of The Hindu Law And Customs. The Main Interest Centres Round The Court Of Law And The Procedure Of Law, Which Is A Subject Of, Specialised Technical Nature. The Topic, Practically Untouched Till Now, Has Been Drafted In A Completely Original Form. It Is Mainly A Research Work, Which Documents All-Important Statements It Makes And Seeks To Throw Fresh Light On Several Important And Obscure Points. The Subject-Matter, However, Has Been Presented In A Manner Calculated To Be Attractive And Intelligible To The General Reader. The Work, Therefore, Will Definitely Be Taken As A Valuable Contribution To Readable Material For Those Who Have Thirst And Curiosity To Know More And Desire To Enrich Their Store Of Knowledge For Hindu Judicial Procedure. The Students Of Law As Well As Those Of Ancient Indian Polity And Culture Will Find This Work A Source Book And A Valuable Guide.

The book is a maiden voyage to compile and analyze the interpretations of ancient Indian law in modern historiography. There has been a dearth of books with historiographical approach to the study of classical Indian law, despite the fact that law has occupied a prominent place in the historical studies over the past two hundred years. Starting from British Indologist Sir William Jones, the historians owing allegiance to different schools like Imperialism, Nationalism, Marxism and Postmodernism commented fervently upon the ancient Indian law. Irrespective of their interpretive models, such comments and studies have broadened our understanding of the ancient Indian law and enriched the historiography of the same. But the comprehensive study of such vast intellectual heritage, remained a virgin territory. The followers of ancient history confined themselves to Sutra-Smriti texts, and those from Law Schools focused on post-independent codified Hindu law. In this backdrop, the present work, by studying the modern historiography of ancient Indian law, stands to be the first of its own kind. The book is historiographical in its methodology, but as and when required, primary sources have also been referred to in order to critically examine the historian's assumptions. The various interpretations have been put together in a lucid language to delineate a holistic and objective picture of various law topics such as - Marital Laws, Son-ship & Adoption, Succession & Inheritance, Women's Property Rights, International Laws, and Laws of Judicature, etc.

In 1941, a groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court decision changed the field of Indian law, setting off an intellectual and legal revolution that continues to reverberate around the world. This book tells for the first time the story of that case, United States, as Guardian of the Hualapai Indians of Arizona, v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co., which ushered in a new way of writing Indian history to serve the law of land claims. Since 1941, the Hualapai case has travelled the globe. Wherever and whenever indigenous land claims are litigated, the shadow of the Hualapai case falls over the proceedings. Threatened by railroad claims and by an unsympathetic government in the post - World War I years, Hualapai activists launched a campaign to save their reservation, a campaign which had at its centre documenting the history of Hualapai land use. The book recounts how key individuals brought the case to the Supreme Court against great odds and highlights the central role of the Indians in formulating new understandings of native people, their property, and their past.

Whether defined by family, lineage, caste, professional or religious association, village, or region, India's diverse groups did settle on a concept of law in classical times. How did they reach this consensus? Was it based on religious grounds or a transcendent source of knowledge? Did it depend on time and place? And what apparatus did communities develop to ensure justice was done, verdicts were fair, and the guilty were punished? Addressing these questions and more, A Dharma Reader traces the definition, epistemology, procedure, and process of Indian law from the third century B.C.E. to the middle ages. Its breadth captures the centuries-long struggle by Indian thinkers to theorize law in a multiethnic and pluralist society. The volume includes new and accessible translations of key texts, notes that explain the significance and chronology of selections, and a comprehensive introduction that summarizes the development of various disciplines in intellectual-historical terms. It reconstructs the principal disputes of a given discipline, which not only clarifies the arguments but also relays the dynamism of the fight. For those seeking a richer understanding of the political and intellectual origins of a major twenty-first-century power, along with unique insight into the legal interactions among its many groups, this book offers exceptional detail, historical precision, and expository illumination.