Chanakya

Chanakya (c. 350–283 BCE) was an adviser to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BCE), and was the chief architect of his rise to power.Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient South Asian political treatise called the Arthaśāstra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya. It is important to identify Chanakya as Indian because his cultural significance has reached far and wide, and his words are just as internalised in other parts of South Asia. Chanakya has been considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science. In the Western world, he has been referred to as The Indian Machiavelli, although Chanakya's works predate Machiavelli's by about 1,800 years. Chanakya was a teacher in Takṣaśila, an ancient centre of learning, and was responsible for the creation of Mauryan empire, the first of its kind on the Indian subcontinent. His works were lost near the end of the Gupta dynasty and not rediscovered until 1915.

Identity

He is generally called Chanakya (derived from his father's name "Chanak") but, in his capacity as author of the Arthaśhāstra, is generally referred to as Kautilya derived from his gotra's name "Kotil" (Kautilya means "of Kotil"). He was a master of the shrewd act of diplomacy. He believed in four ways—Sama, Daana, Danda, Bheda (treating with Equality, Enticement, Punishment or War and Sowing Dissension.) The Arthaśhāstra identifies its author by the name Kautilya, except for one verse which refers to him by the name Vishnugupta. One of the earliest Sanskrit literatures to explicitly identify Chanakya with Vishnugupta was Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra in the 3rd century BC.

K.C. Ojha puts forward the view that the traditional identification of Vishnugupta with Kautilya was caused by a confusion of editor and originator and suggests that Vishnugupta was a redactor of the original work of Kautilya. Thomas Burrow goes even further and suggests that Chanakya and Kautilya may have been two different people.

Kautilya's role in the formation of the Mauryan Empire is the essence of a historical/spiritual novel The Courtesan and the Sadhu by Dr. Mysore N. Prakash.

Two books are attributed to Chanakya: Arthashastra and Neetishastra which is also known as Chanakya Niti. The Arthashastra discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare,international relations, and war strategies in detail. Neetishastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya's in-depth study of the Indian way of life. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms - pithy sentences) that tell people how they should behave. Of these well-known 455 sutras, about 216 refer to raaja-neeti (the do's and don'ts of running a kingdom). Apparently, Chanakya used these sutras to groom Chandragupt and other selected disciples in the art of ruling a kingdom.

Legend

Chanakya was born with a complete set of teeth, a sign that he would become king, which is inappropriate for a Brahmin like Chanakya. Chāṇakya's teeth were therefore broken and it was prophesied that he will rule through another.Thomas R. Trautmann lists the following elements as common to different forms of the Chanakya legend:

• The Nanda King throws Chānakya out of his court, prompting Chānakya to swear revenge.
• Chānakya searches for one worthy for him to rule through. Chānakya encounters a young Chandragupta Maurya who is a born leader even as a child.
• Chānakya's initial attempt to overthrow Nanda fails, whereupon he comes across a mother scolding her child for burning himself by eating from the middle of a bun or bowl of porridge rather than the cooler edge. Chāṇakya realizes his initial strategic error and, instead of attacking the heart of Nanda territory, slowly chips away at its edges.
• Chānakya changed his alliance with the mountain king Parvata due to his obstinacy and non-adherence to the principles of the treaty as agreed.
• Chānakya enlists the services of a fanatical weaver to rid the kingdom of rebels.
• Chānakya adds poison to the food eaten by Chandragupt Maurya, now king, in order to make him immune. Unaware, Chandragupta feeds some of his food to his queen, who is in her ninth month of pregnancy. In order to save the heir to the throne, Chānakya cuts the queen open and extracts the foetus, who is named Bindusara because he was touched by a drop (bindu) of blood having poison.
• Chānakya's political rivalry with Subandhu leads to his death.

Chanakya was a shrewd observer of nature. Once, it is said that Mauryan forces had to hide in a cave. There was no food, and the soldiers were starving.They could not come out of the cave either, as there was a threat to their lives. Chanakya saw an ant taking a grain of rice, whereas, there was no sign of food or grain anywhere. Moreover, the rice grain was cooked. He ordered the soldiers to search and they found that their enemies had been dining under the cave. Indeed, they were eating at the ground floor. As soon as they saw this, they escaped and were thus saved.

Birth and Origin: Chanakya (c.350 - c.275 BC), also known as Anshul or Anshu or Kautilya or Vishnugupta was born in a family of Brahmin as the son of Acharya Chanak in Pataliputra, Magadh (Modern day Patna, Bihar, India. In the modern day it has been found that social, political and professional life of Brahmins reflects Chanakya Neeti. A South Indian group of Brahmins, Chozhiyas, claim that Chanakya was one of them. Though this may sound very improbable considering the vast distance between present day Tamil Nadu in the south and Magadha in Bihar, it finds curious echos in Parishista-parvan, where Hemachandra claims that Chankya was a Dramila (Dramila, being a very common variant of Dravida). Chanakya enjoyed the best education of the time, in 'Takshashila' (also known in its corrupted form as Taxila).Takshasilâ had established itself as a place of learning. The school had by that time existed for at least five centuries and attracted students from all over the ancient world of Southeast Asia. The Kingdom of Magadha maintained contact with Takshasilâ. Chanakya's life was connected to these two cities, Pataliputra and Takshasilâ. According to Jaina accounts[1] Chānakya was born in the village of Caṇaka in the Golla district to Caṇin and Caṇeśvarī, a Maga Brahmin couple[2].

Death

According to the Jain texts, Chanakya lived to a ripe old age and died around 275 BC and was cremated by his disciple Radhagupta who succeeded Rakshasa Katyayan (great-grand son of Prabuddha Katyayan, who attained Nirvana during the same period as Gautam Budhha) as Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire and was instrumental in backing Ashoka to the throne.

According to a Jaina tradition, while Chanakya served as the chief administrator of Chandragupta Maurya, he started adding small amounts of poison in Chandragupta's food so that he would get used to it. The aim of this was to prevent the Emperor from being poisoned by enemies. One day the queen, Durdha, shared the food with the Emperor while she was pregnant. Since she was not used to eating poisoned food, she died. Chanakya decided that the baby should not die; hence he cut open the belly of the queen and took out the baby. A drop (bindu in Sanskrit) of poison had passed to the baby's head, and hence Chanakya named him Bindusara. Bindusara would go on to become a great king and to father the greatest Mauryan Emperor since Chandragupt - Asoka.

When Bindusara became a youth, Chandragupta gave up the throne and followed the Jain saint Bhadrabahu to present day Karnataka and settled in a place known as Shravana Belagola. He lived as an ascetic for some years and died of voluntary starvation according to Jain tradition.

Chanakya meanwhile stayed as the administrator of Bindusara. Bindusara also had a minister named Subandhu who did not like Chanakya. One day he told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for the murder of his mother. Bindusara asked the nurses who confirmed this story and he became very angry with Chanakya.

It is said that Chanakya, on hearing that the Emperor was angry with him, thought that anyway he was at the end of his life. He donated all his wealth to the poor, widows and orphans and sat on a dung heap, prepared to die by total abstinence from food and drink. Bindusara meanwhile heard the full story of his birth from the nurses and rushed to beg forgiveness of Chanakya. But Chanakya would not change his mind. Bindusara went back and vented his fury on Subandhu, and killed him.

Chanakya after this incident, renounced food and shortly died thereafter. Bindusara revered Chanakya and the loss of his advisor was a considerable blow to him.

Other versions

The classical Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta, Mudrarakshasa, is one popular source of Chanakya lore. (The play has been dated between 4th and 9th century CE).

According one tradition, Chanakya was a native of Dravida. One of Chanakya's various names was Dramila, the Sanskrit form of "Tamilian". ("Dramila" is believed to be the root of the word "Dravida" by some scholars). Chozhiars, a sub-sect of Iyers, hold that Chanakya was one of them.

There is also a claim that Chanakya belonged to the Brahmin group from the present day Kerala and believed to be resident of present day Ernakulam. In true Hindu tradition he is said to have persuaded King Chandragupta Maurya to forsake his throne and to join him in moving to the last phase of one's life viz. Vanaprastha. Accordingly, he took the King along with him to South India where both of them carried prolonged meditation and finally achieved Moksha.

Kautilya was educated at Taxila or Takshashila. The new states (in present-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) by the northern high road of commerce along the base of the Himalayas maintained contact with Takshasilâ and at the eastern end of the northern high road (uttarapatha) was the kingdom of Magadha with its capital city, Pataliputra, now known as Patna. Chanakya's life was connected to these two cities, Pataliputra and Taxila.

In his early years he was tutored extensively in the Vedas - Chanakya memorized them completely at a very early age. He was also taught mathematics, geography and science along with religion. Later he travelled to Takshashila, where he became a teacher of politics. Chanakya taught subjects using the best of practical knowledge acquired by the teachers. The age of entering the University was sixteen. The branches of study most sought after around India at that time ranged from law, medicine, warfare and other disciplines. Two of his more famous students were Bhadrabhatta and Purushdutta.

Political turmoil in Western India at that time caused by Greek invasion forced Chanakya to leave the University environment for the city of Pataliputra (presently known as Patna, in the state of Bihar, India), which was ruled by the Nanda king Dhanananda. Although Chanakya initially prospered in his relations with the ruler, being a blunt person he was soon disliked by Dhanananda. This ended with Chanakya being removed from an official position he enjoyed.

According to the Kashmiri version of his legend, ChāṇakyaThere is an anecdote which says a thorn had pricked his foot once. After that instead of uprooting the tree, he poured buttermilk on the tree so that the ants will gather around tree and finish the tree to its last pieces.