Bahudantiputra is a writer on Indian political and religious thought before Kautilya (4th century CE). Kautilya held him in high esteem and incorporated his precepts/teachings in Arthashastra I, Chapter VIII, while prescribing qualifications for a minister. Bahudantiputra’s views and teachings on ministers are especially noteworthy. ‘A mantrin should be a native of the country, of noble birth, of good temperament, trained in the arts, with penetrating vision, wise, preserving, dexterous, eloquent, resolute, energetic, with an ability to endure pain, mentally pure and physically chaste, amiable, firmly devoted to the king, possessed of strong character and physical strength, healthy spirited, neither arrogant nor fickle, affectionate and impervious to offences (by the king)”.
The work, Bahudantaka, a treatise on Nitishastra (science of
ethics) based on dharma, Artha and kama, the three ideals of human life,
originally consisted of ten thousand chapters. Later, the work was abridged to
five thousand chapters by Purandara III (Mahabharata, Shanti Parva 69). Puranic
sources hold Purandara I as the Lord of heaven, Indra, Purandara II was Tapa,
son of Agni called Panchajanya. Indra once became son of this Purandara II.
Purandara III is the name of Indra in Vaivasvata Manvantara and he appears to
be Bahudantaka’s author. Matsya Purana considers him to be one among eighteen vasushastra-karas
(adept in house-holding) the other seventeen being great sages Bhrigu, Atri,
Vivakarma, Maya, Narada, Nagnajit, Vishalaksha, Brahma, Kumara, Nandisha,
Saunaka, Garga, Vasudeva, Sukta, Brihaspati and Anirudddha (Matsya Purana,
Chapter 252, 2-3). According to the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva 59. 89-90) Lord
shiva wrote a book Visalaksha containing ten thousand chapters on dharma-artha-kama.
Purandara condensed it to five thousand and named that book Bahudantaka in
honor of his mother Bahudanti.