This article examines the potential of Kautilya's Arthashastra to inform contemporary debates on market segmentation and the resilience of physical markets. Moving beyond simplistic comparisons, it provides a historically contextualized reading of Kautilya's hierarchical market town model---Sthaniya, Dronamukha, Karvatika, and Sangrahana---through secondary literature review and a mathematical representation of its demographic framework. The study analyses the functional logic behind this spatial organization and argues that this ancient model offers valuable insights into the structural advantages of physical marketplaces---quality assurance, trust, and community integration---which directly address the limitations of modern e-commerce. By presenting a case study of the contemporary Indian Haat (weekly market) as an enduring instantiation of the Sangrahana model, the article proposes a synergistic ``phygital'' strategy for sustainable and customer-centric rural retail. The study concludes that Kautilya's spatial market hierarchy is not a prescriptive guide but a powerful analytical framework for understanding the enduring logic of marketplaces.
Kashyap et al. (Fri,) studied this question.