“The second chapter of Kautilya’s Arthashastra is fittingly titled Vinayadhikarana. It can be loosely translated as On the Subject of Training. Its scope is quite encyclopaedic, and at one level, it can be likened to a training manual.

It contains a highly detailed exposition of the process for selecting ministers. Even at this distance in time, one cannot but marvel at the breadth and depth to which Chanakya has gone. We can offer only the briefest of summaries of this chapter.

Before being appointed, the aspirant was subjected to rigorous tests which were above and beyond their formal education, scholarship, talent, skill, or experience. Kautilya assigned the topmost spot to the following qualities: personal character and conduct, unimpeachable integrity, and unquestionable fealty to the land. To qualify in these, he devised the fabled fourfold Kautilyan Test……”