Artha is the pursuit of material wealth, which brings material comforts to a person. People sometimes believe that the paths of spiritual growth and pursuit of material wealth are mutually exclusive, or even that a spiritual seeker needs to be in poverty. But that is not true. If we look at the Universe, it is a reflection of abundance. Nature is abundant in everything, poverty is nothing but a state of consciousness. If abundance is the quality of the Divine, how is pursuit of abundance in contrast with the pursuit of the Divine? If one is in poverty, in a state of constantly worrying about how to support and feed, if that is where the focus is on, how can one pursue spirituality? Only when there are no worries is one able to focus their attention to the goal of union with the Divine. The important thing to remember is not to be attached to the possession or attainment of wealth. It can be sought with detachment, and with awareness, and when done in this state of mind, the pursuit of wealth is not different from the pursuit of the Divine, because one sees abundance, or wealth as a form of the Divine. And in this state of detachment, one recognizes when one has attained their financial objectives, and hence the desire to pursue more automatically dies away, paving the way for Moksha.
Source: http://ekatvam.org/liberation/dharma-artha-kama-moksha.html
Kautilya's Arthashastra was written more Chandragupta, the first emperor of the Mauryan Empire. It is a treatise on how a king should run his state. The work covers everything from economics, treatment of minister and criminals, policy, accumulation of wealth, and even torture. Chandragupta conquered almost all of India, as well as the Greek kingdoms as far as modern day Iran.
Video depicting the expansion of Chandragupta's empire
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Very well made video depicting Kautilya, Chantragupta
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Some of Kautila's sayings, found in the Artha Shastra
