Chanakya

Kautilya (also known as Chanakya, c. 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.
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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 Bindusara. After Chandragupta abdicated the throne to become a Jain monk, Chanakya anointed Bindusara as the new king. However, Subandhu wanted to become a higher minister and grew jealous of Chanakya.

So, he told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for the death of his mother. Bindusara confirmed the allegations with the nurses, who told him that Chanakya had cut open the belly of his mother. An enraged Bindusara started hating Chanakya. As a result, Chanakya, who had grown very old by this time, retired and decided to starve himself to death. Meanwhile, Bindusara 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.


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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 Chandragupta to forest for retirement , once Bindusara became the king.

Brihatkatha-Manjari by Kshemendra and Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva are two 11th century Kashmiri Sanskrit collections of legends. Both are based on a now-lost Prakrit-language Brihatkatha-Sarit-Sagara , which itself is based on the now-lost Paishachi language Brihatkatha by Gunadhya. The Kashmiri version of the legend goes like this: Vararuchi identified with Katyayana , Indradatta and Vyadi were three disciples of the sage Varsha.

Once, on behalf of their guru Varsha, they traveled to Ayodhya to seek a gurudakshina guru's fee from king Nanda. As they arrived to meet Nanda, the king died. Using his yogic powers, Indradatta entered Nanda's body, and granted Vararuchi's request for 10 million dinars gold coins.

The royal minister Shakatala realized what was happening, and had Indradatta's body burnt. But before he could take any action against the fake king Indradatta in Nanda's body, also called Yogananda , the king had him arrested. Shakatala and his sons were imprisoned, and were given food sufficient only for one person.

Shakatala's sons starved to death, so that their father could live to take revenge. 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, Shakatala came across Chanakya, a Brahmin who was uprooting all the grass in his path, because one blade of the grass had pricked his foot. Shakatala realized that he could use a man so vengeful to destroy the fake king. He invited Chanakya to the king's assembly, promising him , gold coins for presiding over a ritual ceremony. Shakatala hosted Chanakya in his own house, and treated him with great respect. But the day Chanakya arrived at the king's court, Shakatala got another Brahmin named Subandhu to preside over the ceremony.

Chanakya felt insulted, but Shakatala 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 Shakatala's house. There, using materials supplied by Shakatala, he performed a magic ritual which made the king sick.

The king died of fever after 7 days. Shakatala then executed Hiranyagupta, the son of the fake king. He anointed Chandragupta, the son of the real king Nanda, as the new king in Kshemendra's version, it is Chanakya who installs Chandragupta 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.

Mudrarakshasa "The signet ring of Rakshasa" is a Sanskrit play by Vishakhadatta.

Its date is uncertain, but it anachronistically mentions the Hunas , who invaded northern India during the Gupta period. Therefore, it could not have been composed before the Gupta era. Therefore, most of it appears to be pure fiction, without any historical basis.

Chanakya Hindi Serial Volume 1 of 8

According to this version, the king Nanda once removed Chanakya from the "first seat of the kingdom" this possibly refers to Chanakya's expulsion from the king's assembly. For this reason, Chanakya vowed not to tie his top knot shikha until the complete destruction of Nanda. Chanakya made a plan to dethrone Nanda, and replace him with Chandragupta, his son by a lesser queen. Chanakya engineered Chandragupta's alliance with another powerful king Parvateshvara or Parvata , and the two rulers agreed to divide Nanda's territory after subjugating him.

The army invaded Pataliputra Kusumapura and defeated the Nandas. Nanda's prime minister Rakshasa escaped Pataliputra, and continued resisting the invaders. He sent a vishakanya poison girl to assassinate Chandragupta. Chanakya had this girl assassinate Parvata instead, with the blame going to Rakshasa. However, Parvata's son Malayaketu learned the truth about his father's death, and defected to Rakshasa's camp. Chanakya's spy Bhagurayana accompanied Malayaketu, pretending to be his friend. Rakshasa continued to plot Chandragupta's death, but all his plans were foiled by Chanakya.

For example, once Rakshasa arranged for assassins to be transported to Chandragupta's bedroom via an underground 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, Parvata's brother Vairodhaka became the ruler of his kingdom. Chanakya convinced him that Rakshasa was responsible for killing his brother, and agreed to share half of Nanda's kingdom with him. Secretly, however, Chanakya hatched a plan to get Vairodhaka killed.

He knew that the chief architect of Pataliputra was a Rakshasa loyalist. He asked this architect to build a triumphal arch for Chandragupta'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 Vairodhaka to lead the procession on Chandragupta's elephant, and accompanied by Chandragupta's bodyguards. As expected, Rakshasa's loyalists arranged for the arch to fall on who they thought was Chandragupta. Vairodhaka was killed, and once again, the assassination was blamed on Rakshasa.

Malayaketu and Rakshasa then formed an alliance with five kings: In Pataliputra, Chanakya's agent informed him that three Rakshasa loyalists remained in the capital: Of these, Jiva-siddhi was actually a spy of Chanakya, unknown to his other spies. Chandana-dasa sheltered Rakshasa'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 Chandragupta's princes to fake defection to Malayaketu's camp. In addition, Chanakya ordered Shakata-dasa's murder, but had him 'rescued' by Siddharthaka, a spy pretending to be an agent of Chandana-dasa. Chanakya's spy then took Shakata-dasa to Rakshasa. When Shakata-dasa and his 'rescuer' Siddharthaka reached Rakshasa, Siddharthaka presented him the signet-ring, claiming to have found it at Chandana-dasa's home.

As a reward, Rakshasa gave him some jewels that Malayaketu had gifted him. Sometime after this, another of Chanakya's agents, disguised as a jeweler, sold Parvata's jewels to Rakshasa. Sometime later, Rakshasa sent his spies disguised as musicians to Chandragupta's court. But Chanakya knew all about Rakshasa's plans thanks to his spies. In front of Rakshasa's spies, Chanakya and Chandragupta feigned an angry argument.

Chandragupta pretended to dismiss Chanakya, and declared that Rakshasa would make a better minister. Meanwhile, Malayaketu had a conversation with Chanakya's spy Bhagurayana while approaching Rakshasa's house. Bhagurayana made Malayaketu distrustful of Rakshasa, by saying that Rakshasa hated only Chanakya, and would be willing to serve Nanda's son Chandragupta. Shortly after this, a messenger came to Rakshasa's house, and informed him that Chandragupta had dismissed Chanakya while praising him.

Ajay Devgn all set to play Chanakya

This convinced Malayaketu that Rakashasa could not be trusted. Malayaketu then decided to invade Pataliputra without Rakshasa by his side. He consulted the Jain monk Jiva-siddhi to decide an auspicious time for beginning the march. Jiva-siddhi, a spy of Chanakya, told him that he could start immediately. Shortly after, Chanakya's spy Siddharthaka pretended to get caught with a fake letter addressed to Chandragupta by Rakshasa.

Wearing the jewels given by Rakshasa, he pretended to be an agent of Rakshasa. The letter, sealed with Rakshasa's signet-ring, informed Chandragupta that Rakshasa only wished to replace Chanakya as the prime minister. It also stated that five of Malayaketu's allies were willing to defect to Chandragupta in return for land and wealth. An angry Malayaketu summoned Rakshasa, who arrived wearing Parvata's jewels that Chanakya's agent had sold him.

When Malayaketu saw Rakshasa 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. Rakshasa managed to escape, tracked by Chanakya's spies. One of Chanakya's spies, disguised as a friend of Chandana-dasa, got in touch with him. He told Rakshasa that Chandana-dasa was about to be executed for refusing to divulge the location of Rakshasa's family.

Ajay Devgn all set to play Chanakya | The Indian Express

On hearing this, Rakshasa rushed to Pataliputra to surrender and save the life of his loyal friend Chandana-dasa. When he reached Pataliputra, Chanakya, pleased with his loyalty to Chandana-dasa, offered him clemency. Rakshasa pledged allegiance to Chandragupta and agreed to be his prime minister, in return for release of Chandana-dasa and a pardon for Malayaketu. Chanakya then bound his top knot, having achieved his objective, and retired.

Chanakya is regarded as a great thinker and diplomat in India. Many Indian nationalists regard him as one of the earliest people who envisaged the united India spanning the entire subcontinent. Furthermore, he recommended reading of the book for broadening the vision on strategic issues.

The diplomatic enclave in New Delhi is named Chanakyapuri in honour of Chanakya. Chanakya circle in Mysore has been named after him. Several modern adaptations of the legend of Chanakya narrate his story in a semi-fictional form, extending these legends. In Chandragupta , a play by Dwijendralal Ray , the Nanda king exiles his half-brother Chandragupta, who joins the army of Alexander the Great. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article is about Chanakya. Arthashastra is serious manual on statecraft, on how to run a state, informed by a higher purpose, clear and precise in its prescriptions, the result of practical experience of running a state. It is not just a normative text but a realist description of the art of running a state. Journal of the American Oriental Society. A neglected precursor to classical economics. Indian Economic Review , Vol.

School of Economics, The University of Queensland. Between the Patterns of History: The same individual is meant in each case. The Panchatantra explicitly identifies Chanakya with Vishnugupta. We must then assume that the later spelling subsequently replaced the earlier in the gotra lists and elsewhere. American Political Science Review. The Science of Wealth. This Kautilya, author of Arthashastra , is identified with Chanakya, minister to the first Mauryan king, Chandragupta, and depicted in stories as the brains behind Chandragupta's takeover of the empire of the Nandas in about BCE.

The adventures of Chanakya and Chandragupta are told in a cycle of tales preserved in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain books. Age of the Nandas and Mauryas. The Clever Adulteress and Other Stories: A Treasury of Jaina Literature.

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Translated by Rosalind Lefeber. Translated by Hermann Jacobi. Translated by Miles Davis and V. Archived from the original on 16 July Retrieved 15 August Retrieved 17 March Retrieved 18 October Chanakya's Views on Administration. Dwijendralaler Chandragupta [ Chandragupta by Dwindralal ] in Bengali 4th ed. Pageviews for each item are divided by the aggregate number of pageviews generated by the items displayed. Watch the biggest recent trailers in the shortest amount of time: Patton Oswalt is here with all the predictions you need for the major categories at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

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A family comedy surrounding an old man, his good for nothing son, Praful and wife Hansa, widow daughter in law Jayshree and their children, Jackie and Chakki, who are the smartest of them all. This is a historical saga of establishing the Mauryan Empire in India. It is not a fiction or a drama but depicts the establishment of the Maurya dynasty in India.

One man, who had faced very tough circumstances not only in his childhood but also in his life made history by uniting the different independent states sharing the same culture and background into one country, India and threw the kings out who did not deserve to rule. His patriotism for his motherland was beyond any appreciation. It inspires one to preserve that culture and always uphold the needs of the country over your own needs and desires.

I have watched it twice, but even when I watched it the second time, it didn't inspire me less than it did the first time. It teaches many good things and the best thing I like is the theme that if you are following the truth and have faith in your beliefs, no matter how many obstacles or hurdles you face, don't give up and you will win one day.

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