Identity He is generally called Chanakya (derived from his father's name "Chanak")[7] but , in his capacity as author of the

Arthashastra, is generally referred to as Kau tilya derived from his gotra's name Shakaldweepi. He was a master of the shrewd act of diplomacy. He believed in four ways Sama, Daama, Danda, Bheda (treating wit h Equality, Enticement, Punishment or War and Sowing Dissension.)[8] The Arthash astra identifies its author by the name Kautilya,[1] except for one verse which refers to him by the name Vishnugupta.[9] One of the earliest Sanskrit literatur es to explicitly identify Chanakya with Vishnugupta was Vishnu Sharma's Panchata ntra in the 3rd century BC.[10] K.C. Ojha puts forward the view that the traditional identification of Vishnugup ta with Kautilya was caused by a confusion of editor and originator and suggests that Vishnugupta was a redactor of the original work of Kautilya.[1] Thomas Bur row goes even further and suggests that Chanakya and Kautilya may have been two different people.[11] Kautilya's role in the formation of the Mauryan Empire is the essence of a histo rical/spiritual novel The Courtesan and the Sadhu by Dr. Mysore N. Prakash.[12] Two books are attributed to Chanakya: Arthashastra and Neetishastra which is als o known as Chanakya Nite. The Arthashastra discusses monetary and fiscal policie s, 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 t he Indian way of life. Chanakya also developed Neeti-Sutras (aphorisms - pithy s entences) that tell people how they should behave. Of these well-known 455 sutra s, about 216 refer to raaja-neeti (the do's and don'ts of running a kingdom). Ap parently, Chanakya used these sutras to groom Chandragupt and other selected dis ciples in the art of ruling a kingdom. [edit] Education Rishi Canak named his son as "Chanakya". Being a teacher himself, he knew the im portance of education. Takshsheela was one of the world centers for education At a very early age little Chanakya started studying Vedas. The Vedas; considere d to be the toughest scriptures to study were completely studied and memorized b y Chanakya in his infancy. He was attracted to studies in politics. In politics Chanakya s acumen and shrewdness was visible right from childhood. He was a studen t of politics right from child hood. Known as a masterful political strategist, He knew how to put his own people in the opposite camp and spy the enemy without his knowledge before destroying him forever. Chanakya was an ace in turning tab les in his favor irrespective of the circumstances. He never budged to pressure tactics by the ruthless politicians. In this way after studying religion and pol itics, he turned his attention to economics, which remained his lifelong friend. "Nitishastra", a treatise on the ideal way of life shows his in depth study of the Indian way of life. [edit] Legend Silver punch mark coin of the Mauryan empire, with symbols of wheel and elephant . 3rd century BCE. Thomas R. Trautmann lists the following elements as common to different forms of the Chanakya legend[13]: Chanakya was born with a complete set of teeth, a sign that he would become king, which is inappropriate for a Brahmin like Chanakya. Cha?akya's teeth were therefore broken and it was prophesied that he will rule through another. The Nanda King throws Chanakya out of his court, prompting Chanakya to swear revenge. Chanakya searches for one worthy for him to rule through. Chanakya encounter

s a young Chandragupta Maurya who is a born leader even as a child. Chanakya's initial attempt to overthrow Nanda fails, whereupon he comes acro ss 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. Cha?akya realizes his ini tial strategic error and, instead of attacking the heart of Nanda territory, slo wly chips away at its edges. Chanakya changed his alliance with the mountain king Parvata due to his obst inacy and non-adherence to the principles of the treaty as agreed. Chanakya enlists the services of a fanatical weaver to rid the kingdom of re bels. Chanakya adds poison to the food eaten by Chandragupt Maurya, now king, in o rder to make him immune.[14] 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, Chanakya cuts the queen open and extracts the foetus, who is named Bind usara because he was touched by a drop (bindu) of blood having poison.[15] Chanakya's political rivalry with Subandhu leads to his death. Chanakya was a shrewd observer of nature. Once, it is said that Mauryan forces h ad to hide in a cave. There was no food, and the soldiers were starving.They cou ld not come out of the cave either, as there was a threat to their lives. Chanak ya saw an ant taking a grain of rice, whereas, there was no sign of food or grai n anywhere. Moreover, the rice grain was cooked. He ordered the soldiers to sear ch and they found that their enemies had been dining under the cave. Indeed, the y were eating at the ground floor. As soon as they saw this, they escaped and we re 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 Ch anak in Pataliputra, Magadh (Modern day Patna, Bihar, India. In the modern day i t has been found that social, political and professional life of Brahmins reflec ts Chanakya Neeti. A South Indian group of Brahmins, Chozhiyas, claim that Chana kya 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 fi nds curious echos in Parishista-parvan, where Hemachandra claims that Chankya wa s 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 fo rm as Taxila).Takshasil had established itself as a place of learning. The school had by that time existed for at least five centuries and attracted students fro m all over the ancient world of Southeast Asia. The Kingdom of Magadha maintaine d contact with Takshasil. Chanakya's life was connected to these two cities, Pata liputra and Takshasil. According to Jaina accounts[1] Chanakya was born in the vi llage of Ca?aka in the Golla district to Ca?in and Ca?esvari, a Maga Brahmin cou ple[2]. [edit] Death According to the Jain texts, Chanakya lived to a ripe old age and died around 27 5 BC and was cremated by his disciple Radhagupta who succeeded Rakshasa Katyayan (great-grand son of Prabuddha Katyayan, who attained Nirvana during the same pe riod as Gautam Budhha[citation needed]) as Prime Minister of the Maurya Empire a nd 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 Chandragup ta's food so that he would get used to it.[14] The aim of this was to prevent th e 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 p oisoned 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.[15] A drop (bindu in Sans krit) of poison had passed to the baby's head, and hence Chanakya named him Bind usara. Bindusara would go on to become a great king and to father the greatest M

auryan 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 S hravana Belagola. He lived as an ascetic for some years and died of voluntary st arvation 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 t hat Chanakya was responsible for the murder of his mother. Bindusara asked the n urses 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, though t that anyway he was at the end of his life. He donated all his wealth to the po or, widows and orphans and sat on a dung heap, prepared to die by total abstinen ce from food and drink. Bindusara meanwhile heard the full story of his birth fr om 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. Bindus ara revered Chanakya and the loss of his advisor was a considerable blow to him. [edit] Other versions The classical Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta, Mudrarakshasa, is one popular sour ce of Chanakya lore. (The play has been dated between 4th and 9th century CE). According one tradition, Chanakya was a native of Dravida.[16] One of Chanakya's various names was Dramila, the Sanskrit form of "Tamilian".[17][18]("Dramila" i s 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.[19] There is also a claim that Chanakya belonged to the Brahmin group from the prese nt day Kerala and believed to be resident of present day Ernakulam. In true Hind u 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. Vanaprast ha. Accordingly, he took the King along with him to South India where both of th em carried prolonged meditation and finally achieved Moksha. Kautilya was educated at Taxila or Takshashila,[20] in present day Pakistan. The new states (in present-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) by the northern high road o f commerce along the base of the Himalayas maintained contact with Takshasil and at the eastern end of the northern high road (uttarapatha) was the kingdom of Ma gadha with its capital city, Pataliputra, now known as Patna. Chanakya's life wa s 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.[verification needed] He also taught mathema tics, geography and science along with religion.[verification needed] Later he t ravelled to Takshashila, where he became a teacher of politics.[verification nee ded] Chanakya taught subjects using the best of practical knowledge acquired by the teachers. The age of entering the University was sixteen. The branches of st udy most sought after around India at that time ranged from law, medicine, warfa re and other disciplines. Two of his more famous students were Bhadrabhatta and Purushdutta.[verification needed] Political turmoil in Western India at that time caused by Greek invasion forced Chanakya to leave the University environment for the city of Pataliputra (presen tly 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, Cha?akyaThere is an anecdote wh ich 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. [edit] Media The story of Chanakya and Chandragupta was taken as film in Telugu language in 1977 entitled Chanakya Chandragupta. Akkineni Nageswara Rao played the role o f Chanakya, while N. T. Rama Rao portrayed as Chandragupta.[21] Television series Chanakya is archetypal account of the life and times of Ch anakya, based on the play "Mudra Rakshasa" (The Signet Ring of "Rakshasa") A Television series on Imagine TV available as "chandragupta Maurya" (The se rial is based on the life of indian ruler "Chandragupta Maurya" and "Chanakya")[ 22] A book has been published in English titled 'Chanakya on Management"{18} in which each of the 216 sutras on raja-neeti has been translated and commented upo n. Clearly, the entire system of thought propounded by Chanakya is based on foll owing good ethical principles. In his Arthasastra, Chanakya has discussed widely various economic issues. A book written by Ratan Lal Basu & Rajkumar Sen has dealt exhaustively with these economic concepts of Chanakya and their relevance for the modern world.[23] Many eminent Kautilya experts from all over the world had discussed various aspects of Kautilya's thought in an International Conference held in 1902 at Ori ental Research Institute, Mysore, India to celebrate the Centenary of discovery of the manuscript of the Arthashastra by R. Shamasastry. Most of the papers pres ented in the Conference have been compiled in an edited volume by Raj Kumar Sen and Ratan Lal Basu.[24] Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi is a fictional retelling of the life of Ch anakya the great political strategist of ancient India. The novel relates two st ories in parallel, the first of Chanakya and his machinations to bring Chandragu pta Maurya to the throne of Magadha; the second, that of a modern-day character called Gangasagar Mishra who makes it his ambition to position a slum child as t he Prime Minister of India. [edit] Legacy The diplomatic enclave in New Delhi is named Chanakyapuri in honour of Chanakya.