BALKRISHNA It is the fount?u of religion and support of the universe. None can strain the heavenly bliss without wealth. The rich alone are living in this world, the poor &re verily dead; n&y, poverty is even-worse than death." Now the paramount importmalco of va?tta &nd art/m- sha?tra will culled from be well indicated by & few evideness authentic sources. Ksutily& begins his argha?ka?gra with & discussion on ?he rel&tive impor- tance of ?ho four principal sciences, sad shows that vatitc and arthashastra are the sote?? par ?z?lra? His words are: "There are four primary sciences--logic, the three-fold lore of ghe V?dss, vartta &rid poligies ". The school of M&nu reeognises ?hreo sciences: Vedie lore, vartta and policies. The system of Brih&sp&?i counts only ?wo sciences: vartta &nd politics, bee&us?, in gho words of Kam? d&k&: "?hese &lone e&n help people in ?he &equisi- ?ion of we&l?h." BuS the gre&$ preceptor Sukr& recognizes one znd only one science in his work &nd ?h? is Danda-niti ' politics ', which is ?he beginning &nd ?he end of &ll sciences. Nex? ?he very interesting &ppreei&tion of (?h&n&ky& and ska?t?a ss well as of ?he Niti?h?tra p&sssge concerning ths ?he import?uee of artha- va?tta in the firsl lwo oh&profs of s&ge K&m&nd&ks deserves ihe a?tention of She readers:-- "Salutation unto the moss learned Vishnu Gupta, who raised ?he ambrosia of political science out of the vast ocean of She arthashaztra. As $his science is very much liked by kings, I shall make a brief but clear abridgemen? of ?he treatise of tha? learned scholar who was a master of all Whatever I shall say will branches of knowledge. be in perfect harmony with the views of 'those well-versed in the science politics (rajvidyavidam). Metaphysics, Vedas and ?r? are indeed the most excellent of all knowledge."
