Who was Chanakya ?

t is said that the real name of Chanakya was Vishnugupta and he was a minister at the court of Dhana Nanda – a ruler of Nanda Dynasty that built up the Magadha Empire.

The determined Chanakya started searching for a worthy successor to bring about the downfall of the Nanda king and met the young Chandragupta Maurya.

Legends say that Chanakya was not really happy with the strategies used by Dhana Nanda to rule the empire. Then at one point, the Greeks reached India’s western border. With India being threatened by foreign invasion, Chanakya talked to Dhana Nanda to redo his strategies.

The two men then formed alliances with some other powerful rulers to help them in their quest.

Instead of listening to Chanakya, Dhana Nanda actually insulted him. Insulted Chanakya then untied his lock of hair known as sikha and swore that he will not rest until the Nanda Kingdom is total obliterated.

Chanakya was a highly intelligent and shrewd man.

He then went out in search of an ideal king and came across a boy of 19. His name was Chandragupta Maurya. He quickly realized that he was looking at an ideal king.

He cunningly devised some manipulative war strategies and eventually succeeded in bringing about the downfall of the Nanda dynasty at Pataliputra, in the Magadha region.

Of course when the Maurya Dynasty was formed, Chanakya was the person responsible for the administration of the entire kingdom. He was very well aware of one fact – once a person kills a king, the killer gets the rights to be crowned as the next king.

Following the defeat of the last Nanda king, he established a new empire with Chandragupta Maurya as the emperor and continued serving him as his trusted political adviser.

It was not possible for him actually prevent Chandragupta’s death by weapons but yes, one of the best known methods of assassinating a king was to poison him.

With Chanakya as his guide, Chandragupta proceeded to defeat the generals of Alexander the Great located in Gandhara, present day Afghanistan.

The dosage of poison added to Chandragupta’s food gradually increased day by day. However one day, Chandragupta accidentally fed his food to his wife, who was only a week away from delivering a baby.

Intelligent and ruthless, Chanakya played a pivotal role in helping Chandragupta turn the Mauryan Empire into one of the most powerful empires of that time.

Because of the high dose of poison, Chandragupta’s wife collapsed and died. Chanakya at that point had to save the child in her womb. He immediately took a drastic step and cut open the belly of Chandragupta’s dead wife to take the baby out before the poison blood could reach him.

The initial territory controlled by Chandragupta that extended all across Northern India from the Indus River in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the East was further expanded as the Mauryan Empire gained control of the Punjab.

Some legends say that Chandragupta’s wife wasn’t completely dead but in order to prevent the poisoned blood from reaching the womb, Chanakya immediately beheaded the queen and later cut open her belly to take the baby out.

A learned person knowledgeable in a wide range of topics, Chanakya wrote the treatise ‘Arthashastra’ which explores economic policy, military strategy, issues of social welfare, and other important subjects.

Whatever happened, the fact is that the baby was saved. Unfortunately, a drop of the poison blood managed to reach the baby and left a ‘dot’ mark on his forehead. That is how Chandragupta’s son received the name Bindusara because bindu means a dot.

The work was compiled as a medium of advising the king on how to manage the kingdom at times of war, famine, and epidemics.

Chanakya is considered as extremely cunning and shrewd politician. He is also known as one of the earliest economists of ancient India.

One of the most interesting of Chanakya facts is that Chanakya was also known for using devious ways to defeat Alexander the Great. Not only did Chanakya unite whole of India against Alexander but also thinned out key players of Alexander’s army by making use of Vishakanyas who were also trained into art of seduction.

Ashwin Sangi wrote a book known as Chanakya’s Chant in which Sangi claims that it was Chanakya who was responsible for uniting entire nation when India was attacked by Alexander the Great

According to a popular legend mentioned in Jain texts, Chanakya used to mix small doses of poison in the food eaten by the emperor Chandragupta in order to build his immunity against possible poisoning attempts by the enemies.

Chanakya was very well aware that when it comes to women, men are pretty weak at their knees. So, when Alexander invaded, Chanakya unleashed the Vishakanyas who seduced the army men of Alexander and the moment they became physically close, those men died because of the poison these women had in their bodies.