What is the sapthanga theory

The Saptanga Theory of Kautilya, is given in his book, 'Arthasastra'.
According to the theory, the State consists of seven elements. They were as
follows: The King, the Minister, the Country, the fortified City, the Treasury, the
Army and the Ally.
The ‘King’ means constitution and proper administration. The ‘Minister’
means proper scientific advice. The ‘Country’ means the Population and its
Sovereignty. The ‘fortified City’ means territory. The ‘treasury’ means finance and
economy. The ‘army’ means protection and defence. ‘Ally’ means good friendly
countries and foreign relations.

Estimate of Kautilya: Kautilya was one who even defeated Alexander the

Great. His statecraft was perfect and fool proof. It was based on philosophy as

well as practical wisdom. When compared with the contemporary political

thinkers elsewhere in the world, Kautilya was way ahead of all of them in almost

all aspects of state craft. He was realistic, systematic and practical. He was able

to convert idealism into practical realms with a touch of realism. For Kautilya, it

was not just philosophy to create an utopian state. For him it was the question of

running a great empire. That made him all the more different from contemporary

political thinkers or those who were to follow him for centuries. Kautilya was

also able to blend the ancient religious traditions also into the art of government

while keeping the subtle difference from affecting the secular environment of

state craft. On any account, it can be stated that a meaningful appreciation of

Kautilya as a political thinker will definitely place him at the zenith of the art

and science of political thinking.

In spite of the superiority of Kautilya’s philosophy and practice, his system

of administration did not last for more than two centuries. May be because, the

later kings could not practice the system properly. It could be also because of the

fact that a system based on the concept of Dharma deteriorated because the later

kings were not able to preserve dharma. There could have been quite a number of

internal conflicts also like the transformation of varna system into caste system

based on exploitation.

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