The Arthasastra, which describes the authoritarian regime established by Chandragupta, offers advice to a ruler as to how to keep the throne.

A treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy, it identifies its author by the names 'Kautilya' and 'Viṣhṇugupta', both names that are traditionally identified with the Brahmin Chāṇakya (about 350–283 BCE), who was a scholar at Takshashila and the teacher and guardian Chandragupta.

The Arthasastra will become the pattern for succeeding Indian kingdoms.

Thomas R. Trautmann and I.W. Mabbett have hypothesized that the 'Arthaśāstra' is a composition from no earlier than the second century CE, but is clearly based on earlier material.

Their explanation is that while the doctrines of the 'Arthashstra' may have been written by Chānakya in the fourth century BCE, the treatise we know today may have been edited or condensed by another author in the second century CE.

This would explain, some affinities with smrtis (Sanskrit: literally "that which is remembered," referring to a specific body of Hindu religious scripture; it is a codified component of Hindu customary law) and references in the Arthashastra that would be anachronistic for the fourth century BCE.