Ethical principles of Kautilya (alias Chanakya), the Chief Minister and Chief adviser of Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the great Mauryan Empire, are embedded in his two minor works (the major work being Arthasastra) 'Chanakya Niti' and 'Chanakya Sutram'. Written around 300 B. C. in Aphorisms, i.e. pithy sentences providing ethical guidelines for people in all walks of life (ordinary people up to the king) and for all conceivable family and social relations, are relevant even for modern societies.

The writings of Kautilya were mentioned and partially quoted in various available ancient Indian texts; but the manuscripts of the original text was not available to the scholars till 1909. The manuscripts (written in Early-Grantha Script4) were discovered by Shamaśāstry, the librarian of Oriental Manuscripts Library of Mysore from the house of a native Brāhmaṇa scholar in 1902 and the edited full text in Devanagari Script was published by him in 1909 and later on the text was translated in English by him and many other scholars. The major work, viz. Arthasastra concersns Politics and Economics. on the other hand the minor works contain his ethical principles in the form of Aphorisms.