India, Nov. 12 -- A century ago, a quiet scholarly breakthrough unfolded in then Mysore, when R Shamasastry, a pioneering epigraphist, unearthed and translated Kautilya's Arthashastra, an ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, economic policy, and military strategy, with manuscripts preserved on fragile strips of dried palm-leaf. Shamasastry is the great-great-grandfather of Caltech computer scientist and professor Anima Anandkumar, who drew a link between her expertise - Artificial Intelligence - and the storied history of her family.

"UNESCO recognised Arthashastra, an ancient text, as one of the treasures from India. And I have a really interesting connection that my great-great-grandfather discovered Kautilya's Arthashastra ...