What are the main features of the saptanga theory?

The Saptanga Theory was given by ancient Indian political thinker Kautilya/Chankya in his treatise on statecraft, 'Arthasastra'. The Saptanga Theory was given by ancient Indian political thinker Kautilya/Chankya in his treatise on statecraft, 'Arthasastra'.

Kautilya builds up his theory of the state as an organic entity on basis of seven elements, which he describes in his Arthasastra as 'Saptanga'. The king, the minister, the country, the fortified city, the treasury, the army and the ally are constituent elements of the state. Seven elements despite being 'enumerated' separately stand in a closet possible relation to one another and are in themselves "mutually serviceable'

Kautilya likens the state to a chariot, he conceives it essentially as living, not a dead organism in which the 'Swami' the king is the spirit that regulates and guides the remaining constituents of the body politic. Of the seven elements the king is termed to be of the most superiored & counted on the top of the list, to whom the rest six are subordinate & subservient.