Reviving Kautilya's Arthashastra in NEP 2020: Integrating Indian Knowledge Systems for Ethical Political Education and Constitutional Duties in Higher Education

Abstract The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) has opened a historic policy window for mainstreaming Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) across all stages and disciplines of education. Among the vast treasure-house of IKS, Kautilya’s Arthashastra stands as one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive treatises on politics, economics, law, diplomacy, administration, and above all, ethical governance ever produced in world civilisation. This paper systematically explores the possibilities, modalities, and challenges of reviving Arthashastra as a compulsory or elective component in undergraduate and postgraduate political science programmes under the NEP 2020 framework. It argues that such integration can profoundly enrich ethical political education, deepen students’ understanding of Fundamental Duties under Article 51A of the Indian Constitution, and nurture a generation of politically literate citizens who are culturally rooted yet globally competent. The study analyses relevant NEP provisions, maps conceptual parallels between Arthashastra and modern constitutional values, proposes a detailed 6-credit syllabus with ten modules, examines pedagogical strategies, highlights implementation challenges (faculty training, ideological resistance, resource scarcity, evaluation patterns), and offers actionable recommendations. Insights from ongoing IKS pilot courses in select central universities are also incorporated. The paper concludes that Arthashastra, when taught critically and comparatively, can transform political science from a largely Western-dominated discipline into a truly multidisciplinary, value-centric, and indigenously anchored field of knowledge.