‘Arthashastra, or the Discipline of Politics’ is an ancient Indian literary monument, encyclopedic in its scope, devoted to the political, economic, legal, philosophical, and religious life of Indian society, the authorship of which was attributed by tradition to the Brahman Kautilya. It became the object of special attention of researchers in 1905, when the work on its translation into English and other European languages was started. In Russia, the work on translation into Russian began at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Ac. of Sc. of the U.S.S.R. by a group of specialists led by Academician F.I. Shcherbatsky in 1930. The most part of Arthashastra was translated by E.E. Obermiller, a student of the famous academician. He also made comments on his translation regarding the interpretation of the text and various terms. Preparations for the publication of Arthashastra continued intermittently till the mid-1950s under the supervision of the editorial commission, the executive editor was Academician V.V. Struve.