The Arthaśāstra (, ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy.</ref> Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is traditionally credited as the author of the text. The latter was a scholar at Takshashila, the teacher and guardian of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. Some scholars believe them to be the same person, while most have questioned this identification.: "while in his character as author of an "arthaśāstra" he is generally referred to by his "gotra" name, ;": "T. Burrow... has now shown that Cāṇakya is also a "gotra" name, which in conjunction with other evidence makes it clear that we are dealing with distinct persons, the minister Cāṇakya of legend and Kautilya the compiler of "Arthaśāstra."</ref> The text is likely to be the work of several authors over centuries. Composed, expanded and redacted between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE, the "Arthashastra" was influential until the 12th century, when it disappeared. It was rediscovered in 1905 by R. Shamasastry, who published it in 1909. The first English translation was published in 1915.