ANCIENT INDIAN ECONOMIC THOUGHT: Relevance for Today

The study of ancient Indian economic ideas is likely to endow us with a deeper insight into our culture and tradition and the inherent national characteristics. Many scholars, particularly during the first half of the twentieth century, attempted to make an objective and unbiased evaluation of ancient Indian economic ideas explicitly or implicitly contained in ancient Indian writings, particularly in Vedas, Arthasastra, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Manusmriti, Sukraniti and several other ancient Indian texts.

“Ancient Indian Economic Thought: ” “Relevance for Today” deals with the two most well-known ancient Indian writings, Arthasastra and Manusmriti. This volume is distributed over eleven chapters, viz. Sources and Essence of Ancient Indian Tradition, Agriculture and Land Use, Environment and Ecology, Craft Industries, Role of the State Sector, Price Policy, Taxation and Fiscal Policy, Women’s Property Rights, Division of Labour, The Procedure of Making a Good Ruler, and Globalization. Each chapter has a declared focus in its approach as is evident in its presentation.

This volume is an extremely timely publication when the countries are putting more and more emphasis on the use of indigenous knowledge and ideas in the development of their economies in a sustainable manner as the limitations of imported theories and technologies for economic development are becoming evident especially for the low-income economies in the beginning of the third millennium. Researchers and general readers will find this volume fruit-bearing and useful in the area of policy making.

Ratan Lal Basu is Reader, Department of Economics, Bhairab Ganguly College, Kolkata. Ancient Oriental Economic Thinking is his area of special interest. A life member of the All India Oriental Congress, Dr Basu has authored a number of research articles in this area in international journals and has co-edited the volume “Economics in Kautilya’s Arthasastra”. He is one of the very few scholars who have obtained Ph. D. on “Arthasastra” in recent times.

Raj Kumar Sen is Professor, Department of Economics, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He was President (2003-04) of the Indian Economic Association. Currently, he is also the Managing Editor of “Arthabeekshan” (Journal of the Bengal Economic Association). He has been publishing on important issues like Ancient Oriental Economic Thinking and has also co-edited the book “Economics in Kautilya’s” Arthasastra. He is also a life member of the All India Oriental Congress.