A. Royden D'souza

Chapters 16 through 21 of Arthashastra mark a final, inward turn; but inward in a new and more intimate sense. The king, now armed with spies and a functioning council, must secure the very chambers he sleeps in.

The story of ancient India from c. 900 BC to c. 550 AD is one of repeated cycles of fragmentation and unification, each cycle producing more sophisticated mechanisms of ideological control and administrative reach.