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Chanakya and His contributions to India

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Chanakya as is commonly known is the more familiar name of  Acharya Vishnu Gupta of Takshashila University (present day Taxila in Afghanistan). He is also sometimes called Kautilya.

He was the Mentor, Teacher and Prime minister of India's first and largest Centralized Empire called Maurya Empire founded by Emperor ChandraGupta Maurya under the guidance of Chanakya circa 322 BCE.

But throughout history, Chanakya is sort of the unsung hero of India.

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Why? 

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Because, he is not very well known in India. Perhaps the erudite and learned do know him enough but a vast majority of the masses and possibly hardly anyone outside of India know anything about him.

Yet Chanakya played a very crucial role in India's History and survival as a nation...

 

Chanakya single handedly saved India from foreign (Greek) domination when Alexander on his world conquest campaign reached the borders of India around 326 BCE. 

This he achieved with the overthrow of tyrant Dhanananda, Unification of smaller regional Indian kingdoms into a unified force through military coups, conquests and diplomatic alliances; infiltration and demoralization of tired Greek army to return back to Greece, and above all the establishment of a strong Maurya Empire..

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In fact the Mauryas defeated and beat back Alexander's (Alakshyendra, as they said uniquely in the TV series Chanakya -- see below ) satraps, forged alliances, via diplomacy or marriages..Chandragupta Maurya had a Greek woman as queen..it is said.

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Chanakya life is fraught with struggles and sacrifice for a big cause..lot to learn from him..I'd say he followed Gita perfectly..

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Lets examine some facts of Chanakya's life

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1. himself born a Brahmin (the highest social order in ancient Indian society)

2. orphaned by a tyrant (King Dhananand of Magadha empire -- present day Bihar state of India -- I consider him a tyrant because he was incompetent, indolent and above all an oppressor of his benign masses) because Chanakya father (Acharya Chanak) refused to follow the corrupt practices of Dhananand and publically opposed his policies.

3. hence forced to exile (because Dhanananda wanted to wipe out his entire family)

4. wilfully disfigured his own face in fire to avoid being detected by Dhananands soldiers

5. Educated himself under his guru in Takshashila (current day Afghanistan)

6. foresaw long before others the threat to india by Greek invaders

7. though himself Brahmin broke caste lines to mentor a child of so called 'low born' (Chandragupta Maurya) who went on to build the largest empire India ever saw

8. himself remained simple and single (a person in his position, Chanakya could have anything)

9. wrote the seminal book on Governance, Economics & Politics (Artha Shastra) - this book is still considered as an authoritative text in Universities today

10. in the end gave it all up..at the peak of his power, retired to the forest in seclusion and to spend the last part of his life in spiritual study and contemplation

..as a matter of fact, earlier on, his mentee Emperor Chandragupta too did so -- when he renounced his throne at the peak of his rule to Bindusar (his son) and Chanakya; Chandragupta then retired to the forest in South India, became a Jain monk and renounced life through voluntary starvation.

Remember this is an emperor of the largest empire in India then, and here he gives up his life voluntarily under austerities.

Can you expect that out of the political powers of today?

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All this is historical documented facts not some mythical hoky-poky.

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This is how India was with its great leaders who knew the value of sacrifice and living a public life in peoples welfare.

Such an India can certainly again be if we simply follow our scriptures and traditions 'properly' in every walk of life...

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