We learned about Kautilya's Arthashastra in the course of history lessons in school about the Maurya dynasty. Most of the content was about the reigns of various kings, the wars they waged, territories won and lost. Many dates, many events but nothing really stuck with us after the dreadful final exams.
The mentions of Arthashastra and the character of Kautilya was one of the exceptions. The man and his book intrigued us jaded lot to the point we discussed him outside history class and even the following year. So reading recently about the precarious state of the original Arthashastra manuscript made me want to read the book. And there is so much to learn and ponder - like this nugget about the unteachable
Discipline is of two kinds: artificial and natural; for instruction (kriya) can render only a docile being conformable to the rules of discipline, and not an undocile being (adravyam). The study of sciences can tame only those who are possessed of such mental faculties as obedience, hearing, grasping, retentive memory, discrimination, inference, and deliberation, but not others devoid of such faculties.
In the modern world, we make no such distinctions. Temperament is not treated as a filter to separate the teachable from the unteachable. So we flow everyone through the funnel that the process of formal education is. Out the other other end come out some who cannot be helped and struggle in a world that expects being conformable to the rules of discipline.
The mentions of Arthashastra and the character of Kautilya was one of the exceptions. The man and his book intrigued us jaded lot to the point we discussed him outside history class and even the following year. So reading recently about the precarious state of the original Arthashastra manuscript made me want to read the book. And there is so much to learn and ponder - like this nugget about the unteachable
Discipline is of two kinds: artificial and natural; for instruction (kriya) can render only a docile being conformable to the rules of discipline, and not an undocile being (adravyam). The study of sciences can tame only those who are possessed of such mental faculties as obedience, hearing, grasping, retentive memory, discrimination, inference, and deliberation, but not others devoid of such faculties.
In the modern world, we make no such distinctions. Temperament is not treated as a filter to separate the teachable from the unteachable. So we flow everyone through the funnel that the process of formal education is. Out the other other end come out some who cannot be helped and struggle in a world that expects being conformable to the rules of discipline.
Comments