| CHANAKYA
Chanakya, artistic depiction Born
: 375 BCE, Chanaka village in Golla region (Jain legends)
or in Takshashila (Buddhist legends)
Gotra : Kaundinya Gotra
Chanakya was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kautilya or Vishnugupt, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthshashtra, a text dated to roughly between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. As such, he is considered the pioneer of the field of political science and economics in India, and his work is thought of as an important precursor to classical economics. His works were lost near the end of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century CE and not rediscovered until the early 20th century.
Chanakya assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupt in his rise to power. He is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to both emperors Chandragupt and his son Bindusar.
Background
:
In all the four versions, Chanakya feels insulted by the Nand king, and vows to destroy him. After dethroning the Nand, he installs Chandragupt as the new king.
Buddhist
version :
One of the earliest Sanskrit literatures to identify Chanakya with Vishnugupt explicitly was the Panchatantra.[need quotation to verify] K. C. Ojha proposes that the traditional identification of Vishnugupt with Kautilya was caused by a confusion of the text's editor and its originator. He suggests that Vishnugupt was a redactor of the original work of Kautilya. Thomas Burrow suggests that Chanakya and Kautilya may have been two different people.
Legends :
Dhananand's empire, circa 323 BCE
Buddhist version :
Chanakya was said to be ugly, accentuated by his broken teeth and crooked feet. One day, the king Dhananand organized an alms-giving ceremony for Brahmins. Chanakya went to Pupphapur (Pushpapur) to attend this ceremony. Disgusted by his appearance, the king ordered him to be thrown out of the assembly. Chanakya broke his sacred thread in anger, and cursed the king. The king ordered his arrest, but Chanakya escaped in the disguise of an Ajivika. He befriended Dhananad's son Pabbat, and instigated him to seize the throne. With help of a signet ring given by the prince, Chanakya fled the palace through a secret door.
Chanakya escaped to the Vinjha forest. There, he made 800 million gold coins (kahapans), using a secret technique that allowed him to turn 1 coin into 8 coins. After hiding this money, he started searching for a person worthy of replacing Dhananand. One day, he saw a group of children playing: the young Chandragupt (called Chandagutt in Mahavamsa) played the role of a king, while other boys pretended to be vassals, ministers, or robbers. The "robbers" were brought before Chandragupt, who ordered their limbs to be cut off, but then miraculously re-attached them. Chandragupt had been born in a royal family, but was brought up by a hunter after his father was killed by an usurper, and the devtas caused his mother to abandon him. Astonished by the boy's miraculous powers, Chanakya paid 1000 gold coins to his foster-father, and took Chandragupt away, promising to teach him a trade.
Chanakya had two potential successors to Dhannand: Pabbat and Chandragupt. He gave each of them an amulet to be worn around the neck with a woolen thread. One day, he decided to test them. While Chandragupt was asleep, he asked Pabbat to remove Chandragupt's woolen thread without breaking it and without waking up Chandragupt. Pabbat failed to accomplish this task. Some time later, when Pabbat was sleeping, Chanakya challenged Chandragupt to complete the same task. Chandragupt retrieved the woolen thread by cutting off Pabbat's head. For the next seven years, Chanakya trained Chandragupt for royal duties. When Chandragupt became an adult, Chanakya dug up his hidden treasure of gold coins, and assembled an army.
The army of Chanadragupt and Chanakya invaded Dhannand's kingdom, but disbanded after facing a severe defeat. While wandering in disguise, the two men once listened to the conversation between a woman and her son. The child had eaten the middle of a cake, and thrown away the edges. The woman scolded him, saying that he was eating food like Chandragupt, who attacked the central part of the kingdom instead of conquering the border villages first. Chanakya and Chandragupt realized their mistake. They assembled a new army, and started conquering the border villages. Gradually, they advanced to the kingdom's capital Pataliputra (Pataliputta in Mahavamsa), where they killed the king Dhananand. Chanakya ordered a fisherman to find the place where Dhananand had hidden his treasure. As soon as the fishermen informed Chanakya about its location, Chanakya had him killed. Chanakya anointed Chandragupt as the new king, and tasked a man named Paniyatappa with eliminating rebels and robbers from the kingdom.
Chanakya started mixing small doses of poison in the new king's food to make him immune to poisoning attempts by the enemies. Chandragupt, who was not aware of this, once shared the food with his pregnant queen, who was seven days away from delivery. Chanakya arrived just as the queen ate the poisoned morsel. Realizing that she was going to die, Chanakya decided to save the unborn child. He cut off the queen's head and cut open her belly with a sword to take out the foetus. Over the next seven days, he placed the foetus in the belly of a goat freshly killed each day. After seven days, Chandragupt's son was "born". He was named Bindusar, because his body was spotted with drops (bindu) of goat's blood.
The earliest Buddhist legends do not mention Chanakya in their description of the Mauryan dynasty after this point. Dhammapal's commentary on Theragath, however, mentions a legend about Chanakya and a Brahmin named Subandhu. According to this account, Chanakya was afraid that the wise Subandhu would surpass him at Chandragupt's court. So, he got Chandragupt to imprison Subandhu, whose son Tekicchakani escaped and became a Buddhist monk. The 16th-century Tibetan Buddhist author Taranatha mentions Chanakya as one of Bindusar's "great lords". According to him, Chanakya destroyed the nobles and kings of 16 towns and made Bindusar the master of all the territory between the eastern and the western seas (Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal).
Jain
version :
Chanakya was born with a full set of teeth. According to the monks, this was a sign that he would become a king in the future. Chanin did not want his son to become haughty, so he broke Chanakya's teeth. The monks prophesied that the baby would go on to become a power behind the throne. Chanakya grew up to be a learned shravak, and married a Brahmin woman. Her relatives mocked her for being married to a poor man. This motivated Chanakya to visit Pataliputra, and seek donations from the king Nand, who was famous for his generosity towards Brahmins. While waiting for the king at the royal court, Chanakya sat on the king's throne. A dasi (servant girl) courteously offered Chanakya the next seat, but Chanakya kept his kamandal (water pot) on it, while remaining seated on the throne. The servant offered him a choice of four more seats, but each time, he kept his various items on the seats, refusing to budge from the throne. Finally, the annoyed servant kicked him off the throne. Enraged, Chanakya vowed to uproot Nand and his entire establishment, like "a great wind uproots a tree".
Chanakya knew that he was prophesied to become a power behind the throne. So, he started searching for a person worthy of being a king. While wandering, he did a favour for the pregnant daughter of a village chief, on the condition that her child would belong to him. Chandragupt was born to this lady. When Chandragupt grew up, Chanakya came to his village and saw him playing "king" among a group of boys. To test him, Chanakya asked him for a donation. The boy told Chanakya to take the cows nearby, declaring that nobody would disobey his order. This display of power convinced Chanakya that Chandragupt was the one worthy of being a king.
Chanakya took Chandragupt to conquer Pataliputra, the capital of Nand. He assembled an army using the wealth he had acquired through alchemy (dhatuvad-visaradan). The army suffered a severe defeat, forcing Chanakya and Chandragupt to flee the battlefield. They reached a lake while being pursued by an enemy officer. Chanakya asked Chandragupt to jump into the lake, and disguised himself as a meditating ascetic. When the enemy soldier reached the lake, he asked the 'ascetic' if he had seen Chandragupt. Chanakya pointed at the lake. As the soldier removed his armour to jump into the lake, Chanakya took his sword and killed him. When Chandragupt came out of the water, Chanakya asked him, "What went through your mind, when I disclosed your location to the enemy?" Chandragupt replied that he trusted his master to make the best decision. This convinced Chanakya that Chandragupt would remain under his influence even after becoming the king. On another occasion, Chanakya similarly escaped the enemy by chasing away a washerman, and disguising himself as one. Once, he cut open the belly of a Brahmin who had just eaten food, and took out the food to feed a hungry Chandragupt.
One day, Chanakya and Chandragupt overheard a woman scolding her son. The child had burnt his finger by putting it in the middle of a bowl of hot gruel. The woman told her son that by not starting from the cooler edges, he was being foolish like Chanakya, who attacked the capital before conquering the bordering regions. Chanakya realized his mistake, and made a new plan to defeat Nand. He formed an alliance with Parvataka, the king of a mountain kingdom called Himavatkut, offering him half of Nand's kingdom.
After securing Parvatak's help, Chanakya and Chandragupt started besieging the towns other than Pataliputra. One particular town offered a strong resistance. Chanakya entered this town disguised as a Shaivite mendicant, and declared that the siege would end if the idols of the seven mothers were removed from the town's temple. As soon as the superstitious defenders removed the idols from the temple, Chanakya ordered his army to end the siege. When the defenders started celebrating their victory, Chanakya's army launched a surprise attack and captured the town.
Gradually, Chanakya and Chandragupt subdued all the regions outside the capital. Finally, they captured Pataliputra and Chandragupt became the king. They allowed the king Nand to go into exile, with all the goods he could take on a cart. As Nand and his family were leaving the city on a cart, his daughter saw Chandragupt, and fell in love with the new king. She chose him as her husband by svayamvara tradition. As she was getting off the cart, 9 spokes of the cart's wheel broke. Interpreting this as an omen, Chanakya declared that Chandragupt's dynasty would last for 9 generations.
Meanwhile, Parvatak fell in love with one of Nand's vishkanyas (poison girl). Chanakya approved the marriage, and Parvatak collapsed when he touched the girl during the wedding. Chanakya asked Chandragupt not to call a physician. Thus, Parvatak died and Chandragupt became the sole ruler of Nand's territories.
Chanakya then started consolidating the power by eliminating Nand's loyalists, who had been harassing people in various parts of the kingdom. Chanakya learned about a weaver who would burn any part of his house infested with cockroaches. Chanakya assigned the responsibility of crushing the rebels to this weaver. Soon, the kingdom was free of insurgents. Chanakya also burned a village that had refused him food in the past. He filled the royal treasury by inviting rich merchants to his home, getting them drunk and gambling with a loaded dice.
Once, the kingdom suffered a 12-year long famine. Two young Jain monks started eating from the king's plate, after making themselves invisible with a magic ointment. Chanakya sensed their presence by covering the palace floor with a powder, and tracing their footprints. At the next meal, he caught them by filling the dining room with thick smoke, which caused the monks' eyes to water, washing off the ointment. Chanakya complained about the young monks behavior to the head monk Acharya Susthit. The Acharya blamed people for not being charitable towards monks, so Chanakya started giving generous alms to the monks.
Meanwhile, Chandragupt had been patronizing the non-Jain monks. Chanakya decided to prove to him that these men were not worthy of his patronage. He covered the floor of the palace area near the women's rooms with a powder, and left the non-Jain monks there. Their footprints showed that they had sneaked up to the windows of the women's rooms to peep inside. The Jain monks, who were assessed using the same method, stayed away from the women's rooms. After seeing this, Chandragupt appointed the Jain monks as his spiritual counsellors.
Chanakya used to mix small doses of poison in Chandragupt's food to make him immune to poisoning attempts. The king, unaware of this, once shared his food with Queen Durdhara. Chanakya entered the room at the instant she died. He cut open the dead queen's belly and took out the baby. The baby, who had been touched by a drop ("bindu") of the poison, was named Bindusar.
After Chandragupt abdicated the throne to become a Jain monk, Chanakya anointed Bindusar as the new king. Chanakya asked Bindusar to appoint a man named Subandhu as one of his ministers. However, Subandhu wanted to become a higher minister and grew jealous of Chanakya. So, he told Bindusar that Chanakya was responsible for the death of his mother. Bindusar confirmed the allegations with the nurses, who told him that Chanakya had cut open the belly of his mother. And enraged Bindusar started hating Chanakya. As a result, Chanakya, who had grown very old by this time, retired and decided to starve himself to death. Meanwhile, Bindusar came to know about the detailed circumstances of his birth, and implored Chanakya to resume his ministerial duties. After failing to pacify Chanakya, the emperor ordered Subandhu to convince Chanakya to give up his suicide plan. Subandhu, while pretending to appease Chanakya, burned him to death. Subandhu then took possession of Chanakya's home. Chanakya had anticipated this, and before retiring, he had set up a cursed trap for Subandhu. He had left behind a chest with a hundred locks. Subandhu broke the locks, hoping to find precious jewels. He found a sweet-smelling perfume and immediately inhaled it. But then his eyes fell on a birch bark note with a curse written on it. The note declared that anybody who smelled this perfume will have to either become a monk or face death. Subandhu tested the perfume on another man, and then fed him luxurious food (something that the monks abstain from). The man died, and then Subandhu was forced to become a monk to avoid death.
According to another Jain text – the Rajavali-Katha – Chanakya accompanied Chandragupt to forest for retirement, once Bindusar became the king.
Kashmiri
version :
Meanwhile, the fake king appointed Vararuchi as his minister. As the king's character kept deteriorating, a disgusted Vararuchi retired to a forest as an ascetic. Shakatala was then restored as the minister, but kept planning his revenge. One day, Shakatal came across Chanakya, a Brahmin who was uprooting all the grass in his path, because one blade of the grass had pricked his foot. Shakatal realized that he could use a man so vengeful to destroy the fake king. He invited Chanakya to the king's assembly, promising him 100,000 gold coins for presiding over a ritual ceremony.
Shakatal hosted Chanakya in his own house, and treated him with great respect. But the day Chanakya arrived at the king's court, Shakatal got another Brahmin named Subandhu to preside over the ceremony. Chanakya felt insulted, but Shakatal blamed the king for this dishonour. Chanakya then untied his topknot (sikha), and vowed not to re-tie it until the king was destroyed. The king ordered his arrest, but he escaped to Shakatal's house. There, using materials supplied by Shakatal, he performed a magic ritual which made the king sick. The king died of fever after 7 days.
Shakatal then executed Hiranyagupta, the son of the fake king. He anointed Chandragupt, the son of the real king Nand, as the new king (in Kshemendra's version, it is Chanakya who installs Chandragupt as the new king). Shakatala also appointed Chanakya as the royal priest (purohita). Having achieved his revenge, he then retired to the forest as an ascetic.
Mudrarakshash
version :
Nand's prime minister Rakshash escaped Pataliputra, and continued resisting the invaders. He sent a vishakanya (poison girl) to assassinate Chandragupt. Chanakya had this girl assassinate Parvat instead, with the blame going to Rakshash. However, Parvat's son Malayaketu learned the truth about his father's death, and defected to Rakshash's camp. Chanakya's spy Bhagurayan accompanied Malayaketu, pretending to be his friend.
Rakshash continued to plot Chandragupt's death, but all his plans were foiled by Chanakya. For example, once Rakshash arranged for assassins to be transported to Chandragupt's bedroom via a tunnel. Chanakya became aware of them by noticing a trail of ants carrying the leftovers of their food. He then arranged for the assassins to be burned to death.
Meanwhile, Parvat's brother Vairodhak became the ruler of his kingdom. Chanakya convinced him that Rakshash was responsible for killing his brother, and agreed to share half of Nand's kingdom with him. Secretly, however, Chanakya hatched a plan to get Vairodhak killed. He knew that the chief architect of Pataliputra was a Rakshash loyalist. He asked this architect to build a triumphal arch for Chandragupt's procession to the royal palace. He arranged the procession to be held at midnight citing astrological reasons, but actually to ensure poor visibility. He then invited Vairodhak to lead the procession on Chandragupt's elephant, and accompanied by Chandragupt's bodyguards. As expected, Rakshasa's loyalists arranged for the arch to fall on who they thought was Chandragupt. Vairodhak was killed, and once again, the assassination was blamed on Rakshash.
Malayaketu and Rakshash then formed an alliance with five kings: Chiravarman of Kauluta (Kulu), Meghaksh of Parasik, Narasimha of Malay, Pushkaraksh of Kashmir, and Sindhusen of Saindhav. This allied army also included soldiers from Chedi, Gandhar, Huns, Khas, Magadh, Shak, and Yavan territories.
In Pataliputra, Chanakya's agent informed him that three Rakshash loyalists remained in the capital: the Jain monk Jiv-siddhi, the scribe Shakat-das and the jewelers' guild chief Chandan-das. Of these, Jiv-siddhi was actually a spy of Chanakya, unknown to his other spies. Chandan-das sheltered Rakshash's wife, who once unknowingly dropped her husband's signet-ring (mudra). Chanakya's agent got hold of this signet-ring, and brought it to Chanakya. Using this signet ring, Chanakya sent a letter to Malayaketu warning him that his allies were treacherous. Chanakya also asked some of Chandragupt's princes to fake defection to Malayaketu's camp. In addition, Chanakya ordered Shakata-dasa's murder, but had him 'rescued' by Siddharthak, a spy pretending to be an agent of Chandan-das. Chanakya's spy then took Shakat-das to Rakshash.
When Shakat-das and his 'rescuer' Siddharthak reached Rakshash, Siddharthak presented him the signet-ring, claiming to have found it at Chandana-dasa's home. As a reward, Rakshash gave him some jewels that Malayaketu had gifted him. Sometime after this, another of Chanakya's agents, disguised as a jeweler, sold Parvat's jewels to Rakshash.
Sometime later, Rakshash sent his spies disguised as musicians to Chandragupt's court. But Chanakya knew all about Rakshash's plans thanks to his spies. In front of Rakshash's spies, Chanakya and Chandragupt feigned an angry argument. Chandragupt pretended to dismiss Chanakya, and declared that Rakshash would make a better minister. Meanwhile, Malayaketu had a conversation with Chanakya's spy Bhagurayan while approaching Rakshash's house. Bhagurayan made Malayaketu distrustful of Rakshash, by saying that Rakshash hated only Chanakya, and would be willing to serve Nand's son Chandragupt. Shortly after this, a messenger came to Rakshash's house, and informed him that Chandragupt had dismissed Chanakya while praising him. This convinced Malayaketu that Rakashash could not be trusted.
Malayaketu then decided to invade Pataliputra without Rakshash by his side. He consulted the Jain monk Jiva-siddhi to decide an auspicious time for beginning the march. Jiv-siddhi, a spy of Chanakya, told him that he could start immediately. Jiva-siddhi also convinced him that Rakshasa was responsible for his father's death, but Bhagurayan persuaded him not to harm Rakshash. Shortly after, Chanakya's spy Siddharthak pretended to get caught with a fake letter addressed to Chandragupt by Rakshash. Wearing the jewels given by Rakshash, he pretended to be an agent of Rakshash. The letter, sealed with Rakshash's signet-ring, informed Chandragupt that Rakshash only wished to replace Chanakya as the prime minister. It also stated that five of Malayaketu's allies were willing to defect to Chandragupt in return for land and wealth. An angry Malayaketu summoned Rakshash, who arrived wearing Parvat's jewels that Chanakya's agent had sold him. When Malayaketu saw Rakshash wearing his father's jewels, he was convinced that there was indeed a treacherous plan against him. He executed his five allies in a brutal manner.
The rest of Malayaketu's allies deserted him, disgusted at his treatment of the five slayed allies. Rakshash managed to escape, tracked by Chanakya's spies. One of Chanakya's spies, disguised as a friend of Chandan-das, got in touch with him. He told Rakshash that Chandan-das was about to be executed for refusing to divulge the location of Rakshash's family. On hearing this, Rakshash rushed to Pataliputra to surrender and save the life of his loyal friend Chandan-das. When he reached Pataliputra, Chanakya, pleased with his loyalty to Chandan-das, offered him clemency. Rakshash pledged allegiance to Chandragupt and agreed to be his prime minister, in return for release of Chandan-das and a pardon for Malayaketu. Chanakya then bound his top knot, having achieved his objective, and retired.
Literary
works :
The diplomatic enclave in New Delhi is named Chanakyapuri in honour of Chanakya. Institutes named after him include Training Ship Chanakya, Chanakya National Law University and Chanakya Institute of Public Leadership. Chanakya circle in Mysore has been named after him.[self-published source?]
In
Popular Culture :
Film
and television :
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/ |
