Who was Chanakya ?

Chanakya was born into a Brahmin family. He was the son of Acharya Chanak who was a teacher. He derives his name ‘Chanakya’ from his father’s name ‘Chanak’. Kautilya was the name given because of his gotra ‘Kotil’.

Chanakya overthrew Dhanananda, the last last ruler of Nanda dynasty of the Magadh Empire. Magadh was the most powerful empire at that time. It is said that Dhanananda insulted Kautilya and kicked him out of the royal palace. This insult ignited vengeance in Chanakya’s mind. He pledged to dethrone the king with an open challenge. Finally with his brilliant strategies he finally dethroned him. His disciple Chandragupta Maurya sat on the throne of Magadh after the overthrowing of Nandas.

.It is believed that Chanakya gave small amounts of poison to Chandragupta Maurya through his meal to make him immune against the poisonous attacks of enemies. He had absolute confidence that Chandragupta won’t lose in a sword fight or a forward attack so he prepared a counter measure for such conspiracies.

One day, it so happened that Chandragupta shared his food with his queen Durdhara who was expecting her child and was 9 months pregnant. She died due to the poison But Chanakya saved the baby by cutting the belly of the queen. The child was named as Bindusara.

He made an army of women so as to protect Chandragupta. Those women were called ‘Vish Kanyas’ and were capable of killing people. Even a kiss from these girls was venomous.

Chanakya’s Arthashastra is regarded one of the best books witten on administration and politics till date.

There is one particular incident which is always cited to depict Chanakya's brilliance. When the Nandas had been vanquished from their palace and the Mauryas had come to occupy it, Chanakya suddenly noticed a group of ants emerging out of a crack in the floor, carrying grains. Chanakya immediately realised that some spies were hiding in the basement and asked his people to abandon the palace.

Some say that the retreat of Alexander was strategically planned by Chanakya by arising distrust among the comrades of Alexander. It is said that after Porus bravery it was Chanakya who successfully demonstrated its fear in Alexander’s army thus making him retreat.

After the Nanda king was killed, Chanakya went to the cremation ground, but not to pay his last respects but to, instead, order that the body of the king remain uncremated and discarded. It was a barbaric decision which also ran contrary to the usual Indian traditions observed for the deceased

Kautilya (also known as Chanakya, c. 350-275 BCE) was an Indian statesman and philosopher, chief advisor and Prime Minister of the Indian Emperor Chandragupta, the first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.

Kautilya belonged to the Brahmin caste (the priestly class), he was originally from Northern India and a professor of political science and economics at the University of Taxila.

He was fully knowledgeable concerning the Vedas literature and it is also believed that he might have had some knowledge of Zoroastrianism.

At the time of Kautilya, India was mostly composed of a number of small independent states, with the exception of the Magadha kingdom, a realm that controlled most of Northern India, which was ruled by the Nanda dynasty.

The fame of Kautilya is owed to the important role he played in the fall of the Magadha kingdom and the rise to power of the Mauryan dynasty.

In order to accomplish this, he became an ally and loyal servant of Chandragupta, a noble member of the Kshatriya caste (the warrior rulers caste) who was related to the Nanda family, but he was an exile.

Before he became Chandragupta’s ally, Kautilya was introduced to the Nanda king, who insulted him. Kautilya untied his sikha (lock of hair on male Hindus), and swore he would only tie it back once the Nanda dynasty was destroyed.

Kautilya and Chandragupta raised a small army that lacked sufficient military strength to take the Magadha throne directly.

Therefore, Kautilya’s cunning strategies became useful: Chandragupta entered the capital of the Magadha kingdom, Pataliputra, where he triggered a civil war using Kautilya Chanakya’s intelligence network.

In 322 BCE Chandragupta finally seized the throne putting an end to the Nanda dynasty and he established the Mauryan dynasty which would rule India until 185 BCE. After this victory, Chandragupta fought and defeated the generals of Alexander the Great located in Gandhara, present day Afghanistan.

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

Following these successful campaigns, Chandragupta was seen as a brave leader who defeated part of the Greek invaders and ended the corrupt Nanda government and thus gained wide public support.

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.

There are a number of accounts concerning Kautilya which describe him as both intelligent and ruthless.

There are many legends which state that Chanakya actually maintained an army of females. These women were known as Vishakanyas. As per legends, Vishakanyas were extremely beautiful girls who were given small doses of poisons every day along with food.

. Because of the small doses of poison, the girls grew resistant to any kind of poisoning. Not just that, it is believed that the girls were given poison until they reached puberty and then they were used for secret assassination mission.