CHANAKYA-THE FIRST ARCHITECT OF MODERN INDIA

India in it's history of 5000 years has given to the world some of the best personalities ever born.People of any country can never match the charismatic persona that are provided by this land of diversities.One such character was Chanakya.It is almost impossible to believe that his theories found an important place in the following years with no amendments and are relevant even today as their original form.

Chanakya(c.350-283 B.C.) was an adviser and prime minister of the great Mauryan king Chandragupta Maurya(c. 340-293 BC).This was perhaps the toughest couple of power in the history of world.Infact,Chanakya was the main source of rise of power of Chandragupta Maurya.His other names were Vishnugupta and Kautilya as referred in his political saga Arthashastra.Some considered him Pioneer economist,others said him Indian Machiavelli,but truly he was the architect of the first Indian empire.

Chanakya was born with a complete set of teeth(an identification of kings) but due to his cast of Brahmin his teeth were broken,but rule was in his destiny,although he achieved it through Chandragupta Maurya.At a very early age little Chanakya started studying Vedas.He was proficient in religion,politics and economics. Chanakya had his education at a famous school in a city well known in those days as Takshashila (corrupted later into 'Taxila').

The Nanda king disrespected him and threw him out of his court,thus making a feel of revenge in the heart of Chanakya who met later a young Chandragupta and eventually formed a team with him and after some time dethroned the Nandas and made Amatya Rakshasa(a very intelligent minister of Nandas)the Prime minister of Chandragupta Maurya.

The great book 'Artha-shastra' written by Chanakya is world famous. Even European politicians, sociologists and economists study this book with interest. t begins with a narration of how to bring up royal princes and how their education should be. How to choose ambassadors and how to use spies is then explained. How to protect a king against dangers and risks is also dealt with. Law and order, the duties of the police, how to control the wealthy citizens and motivate them to make gifts for charitable purposes, methods of preventing wars, duties of the astrologer, the priest and others, tricks to be employed to eliminate enemy kings, ways of inducing sleep in human beings and animals-these and numerous other subjects are discussed by Chanakya in the treatise. The wide range and variety of the subjects is itself surprising.

Some of the quotes of his Niti shastra are

"A person should not be too honest.

Straight trees are cut first

And Honest people are screwed first."

"Even if a snake is not poisonous,

It should pretend to be venomous."

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never

share your secrets with anybody. !

It will destroy you."

"There is some self-interest

behind every friendship.

There is no Friendship without

self-interests.This is a bitter truth."

"Before you start some work, always ask

yourself three questions - Why am I doing it,

What the results might be and Will I be

successful. Only when you think deeply

And find satisfactory answers

to these questions, go ahead."

"As soon as the fear approaches

near, attack and destroy it."

"Once you start a working on something,

Don't be afraid of failure and

Don't abandon it.

People who work sincerely are the happiest."

"The fragrance of flowers spreads

Only in the direction of the wind.

But the goodness of a person

spreads in all direction."

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth."

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years.

For the next five years, scold them.

By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend.

Your grown up children are your best friends."

"Books are as useful to a stupid person

As a mirror is useful to a blind person."

"Education is the best friend.

An educated person is respected everywhere.

Education beats the beauty and the youth."

Chanakya The Legend

Son of rishi Canak, Chanakya, also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta, was born in Pataliputra,Magadh (modern Bihar), and later moved to Taxila, in Gandhar province(now in Pakistan). At a very early age little Chanakya started studying Vedas. The Vedas; considered to be the toughest scriptures to study were completely studied and memorized by 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 student 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 tables in his favor irrespective of the circumstances. He never budged to pressure tactics by the ruthless politicians. In this way after studying religion and politics, 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 lifeHe was a professor (acharya) of political science at the Takshashila University and later the Prime Minister of the Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. He is regarded as one of the earliest known political thinkers, economists and king-makers. He was the man to envision the first Indian empire by unification of the then numerous kingdoms in the Indian sub-continent and provide the impetus for fights against the Greek conqueror Alexander.

Chanakya is perhaps less well known outside India compared to other social and political philosophers of the world like Confucius and Machiavelli. His foresight and wide knowledge coupled with politics of expediency helped found the mighty Mauryan Empire in India. He compiled his political ideas into the'Arthashastra', one of the world's earliest treatises on political thought and social order. His ideas remain popular to this day in India. In Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India, Chanakya has been called the Indian Machiavelli. Three books are attributed to Chanakya: Arthashastra, Nitishastra and Chanakya Niti. Arthashastra (literally 'the Science of Material Gain' in Sanskrit) is arguably the first systematic book on economics. It discusses monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in details. Many of his nitis or policies have been compiled under the book title Chanakya Niti. Nitishastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakya's in depth study of the Indian way of life. According to a legend, while Chanakya served as the Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya, he started adding small amounts of poison in Chandragupta's food so that he would get used to it. The aim of this was to prevent the 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 poisoned 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. A drop (bindu in Sanskrit) of poison had passed to the baby's head, and hence Chanakya named him Bindusara. Bindusara would go on to become a great king and to father the greatest Mauryan Emperor since Chandragupta - 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 Sravana Belagola. He lived as an ascetic for some years and died of voluntary starvation according to Jain tradition. Chanakya meanwhile stayed as the Prime Minister of Bindusara. Bindusara also had a minister named Subandhu who did not like Chanakya. One day he told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for the murder of his mother. Bindusara asked the nurses 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, thought that anyway he was at the end of his life. He donated all his wealth to the poor, widows and orphans and sat on a dung heap, prepared to die by total abstinence from food and drink. Bindusara meanwhile heard the full story of his birth from the nurses and rushed to beg forgiveness of Chanakya. But Chanakya would not relent. Bindusara went back and vent his fury on Subandhu, who asked for time to beg for forgiveness from Chanakya. Subandhu, who still hated Chanakya, wanted to make sure that Chanakya did not return to the city. So he arranged for a ceremony of respect, but unnoticed by anyone, slipped a smoldering charcoal ember inside the dung heap. Aided by the wind, the dung heap swiftly caught fire, and the man behind the Mauryan Empire and the author of Arthashastra was burned to death. His main philosophy was "A debt should be paid off till the last penny; An enemy should be destroyed without a trace". He seemed to have lived - and died - by his philosophy.