Editing Arthashastra (section)

===Structure===
The first chapter of the first book is a table of contents, while the last chapter of the last book is a short 73 verse epilogue asserting that all thirty-two ''Yukti''–elements of correct reasoning methods were deployed to create the text;{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=3–4}} both were probably later added to the original text.{{sfn|McClish|2009}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2013}}

{{Quote box |width=24em | bgcolor=#FFE0BB |align=right |salign = right
|quote='''Avoid War'''
<poem>
One can lose a war as easily as one can win.
War is inherently unpredictable.
War is also expensive. Avoid war.
Try ''[[Sāma, Dāna, Bheda, Danda|Upaya]]'' (four strategies).
Then ''[[Sadgunya]]'' (six forms of non-war pressure).
Understand the opponent and seek to outwit him.
When everything fails, resort to military force.
</poem>
|source =—''Arthashastra'' Books 2.10, 6-7, 10{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=49-51, 99-108, 277-294, 349-356, 373-382}}}}
A notable structure of the treatise is that while all chapters are primarily prose, each transitions into a poetic verse towards its end, as a marker, a style that is found in many ancient Hindu Sanskrit texts where the changing poetic meter or style of writing is used as a syntax code to silently signal that the chapter or section is ending.{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=3–4}} All 150 chapters of the text also end with a [[Colophon (publishing)|colophon]] stating the title of the book it belongs in, the topics contained in that book (like an index), the total number of titles in the book and the books in the text.{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=3–4}} Finally, the ''Arthashastra'' text numbers it 180 topics consecutively, and does not restart from one when a new chapter or a new book starts.{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=3–4}} The topics are unevenly divided over the chapers, with some chapers containing multiple topics, and some topics spread over multiple chapters; a peculiarity which betrays extensive redaction, with the division into chapters as a later addition, as argued by Winternitz, Keith, Trautmann, McClish, and Olivelle.{{sfn|Trautmann|2016|loc="the division into chapters is secondary"}}{{sfn|Olivelle|2013}}

The division into 15, 150, and 180 of books, chapters and topics respectively was probably not accidental, states Olivelle, because ancient authors of major Hindu texts favor certain numbers, such as 18 [[Adi Parva|Parvas]] in the epic Mahabharata.{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=4–5}} The largest book is the second, with 1,285 sentences, while the smallest is eleventh, with 56 sentences. The entire book has about 5,300 sentences on politics, governance, welfare, economics, protecting key officials and king, gathering intelligence about hostile states, forming strategic alliances, and conduct of war, exclusive of its table of contents and the last epilogue-style book.{{sfn|Olivelle|2013|pp=4–5}}