Who was Chanakya ?

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 also known by the name of Vishnugupta and Kautilya. Kautilya was derived from his gotra’s name ‘Kotil’.

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 took in Chandragupta as his student and mentored him. Soon, under the guidance of Chanakya, Chandragupta Maurya destroyed the Nanda Kingdom and established the Maurya Dynasty, which went on to become ancient India’s biggest dynasty.

His proposal to secure the borders of the nation against any future attacks were met with scathing attacks on his personality.

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. So, Chanakya made it a motive of his life to ensure that Chandragupta Maurya stayed alive.

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. So, Chanakya started adding small amounts of poison to Chandragupta’s food to make him immune against poisons.

After the annihilation by the Dhanananda, Nanda King, he sought out revenge on his part. He even openly admitted dethroning the king.

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.

After the open challenge to dethrone the Nanda king, he sought out the perfect student for his ambition.

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.

He met with Chandragupta Maurya, a kid with fierce desire and ability. He trained him in every aspect of the life and ruling.

Chanakya wrote Chanakya-Niti or Nitishastra – a political treatise on policies and foreign relations that hold significance even to this day. Modern world leaders and politicians often use the policies mentioned in Nitishastra

It’s a testament to Chanakya that he trained Chandragupta Maurya to be one of the greatest rulers at the young age of 19.

Talking of economics and Chanakya’s visions, here is a quick story that has been handed down to us through legends. According to the story, Greek ethnographer Megasthenes visited India during Chandragupta’s rule. During that time, he became a friend of Chanakya and visited Chanakya at his place one evening only to see Chanakya working on state documents.

Chanakya was born into a Brahmin family. His father was a teacher himself. As such, he inbred the importance of education in his son. Chanakya was a keen learner of political studies alongside Vedas.
He also had knowledge of medicine and astrology.

Chanakya developed the reference for economists in the form of ‘Arthashastra’. He conceptualized the theory of economics and trade within the nation.

His reference toeconomy is still revered to this day. He is credited with being the pioneer in the development of finance and administration.

Chanakya’s ambitions took flight when he was insulted by the emperor of the Nanda dynasty, who ruled the Magadha kingdom in India. At that time, Magadha was the most prominent empire in India while other parts were separate states. Taking the insult to his heart, Chanakya became an ally of Chandragupta Maurya—who had been exiled from the Nanda family.

Apart from the economics, he also devised Chanakya Neeti as the reference point for politics and Neetishastra as the reference for bureaucracy.

Chanakya helped Chandragupta form a small army, and entered Pataliputra, the capital of the Magadha kingdom and ignited a civil war there, using his intelligence network.

Chanakya acted as the administrator of the biggest empire in He helped Chandragupta Maurya in the unification process of the nation and stayed as the mastermind behind the handling of the matters of the nation.

Chanakya devised plans to stop the advancing army of Alexander in the invading of the kingdom of India. He used different tricks to counter their growing stature.

The life of Chanakya has been described in four different versions—The Buddhist version, the Jain version, the Kashmiri version and Vishakhadatta’s Sanskrit Mudrarakshasa version. All four versions describe how he was insulted by the Nanda emperor and how Chanakya vowed to destroy him thereafter.

Apart from this, the scholar has even studied the various Indian shastras and compiled its multiple lessons into ‘Chanakya Niti’ or ‘Chanakya Niti Shastra.’

Chanakya died in 283 BC in Pataliputra. Throughout his life, he had been in service of the Maurya emperors and passed away during the reign of Bindusara, Chandragupta’s son. Some believe that he starved himself to death while others think that court conspiracies led to his demise.