We referred Chanakya as a game changer because he dethroned the Nanda king, Dhana nanda, as he vowed because of insult the king made to him. Not only that he made the person he liked, Chandragupta Maurya, as the king and played a major role in establishment of Mauryan empire. Due to his extreme knowledge in politics he was able to dethrone a existing king and made a unknown person as a king. Such was the greatness of Chanakya. Once, in his hurried walk, he stumbled on a stump of grass and was about to fall. He became very angry. The roots of that type of grass go deep into the earth. But he was undeterred. He sat down right there in that burning sun, removed that grass to its root from the earth and resumed his journey. His name was CHANAKYA.
About Chanakya:
Chanakya was a great Economist, Philosopher, Teacher, Jurist and Royal Advisor. He was born in Pataliputra, Magadh (Modern Bihar) and later moved to Takshasila (Gandhar province now in Pakisthan). He was also known as Kautilya and Vishnu Gupta. He was the son of Rishi Canak. At a very little age Chanakya started studying Vedas. The Vedas being the toughest scriptures to study were completely studied and memorised by little Chanakya. He was very much attracted to study of politics. In politics, Chanakya's acumen and shrewdness was visible right from childhood. He had a canine teeth. His parents used to believe that a boy with canine teeth would become a king in the future and they were afraid that when Chanakya becomes a king, he would leave them. For this purpose he broke his teeth.
Chanakya Establishing Mauryan Empire:
Chanakya married a Brahmin girl. She was very much insulted by her relatives that she married a very poor fellow. Chanakya decided to earn money. One day king Dhana Nanda organised an Alms-giving ceremony for Brahmins. Chanakya went to Pushpapura to attend the ceremony. Chanakya had an ugly appearance due to his broken teeth and crooked feet. Disgusted by his ugly appearance, they ordered him to be thrown out of the assembly. Chanakya then broked his sacred thread in anger and cursed the king. His hair got loose when he was thrown away and he vowed that he would tie his hair only when he dethrone's Dhana Nanda. The king ordered his arrest but he escaped in disguise of Ajivika. He befriended Dhana Nanda's son Pabbata.
Chanakya escaped to Vinjha forest with help of Pabbata. He was in search of a person who can replace Dhana Nanda. One day he saw a group of children playing. They were playing King game and the boy playing King's role was Chandragupta Maurya. Chanakya was very much impressed by the boy by the role he played in the game and the skills he showed. He decided to take the child with him. Chandragupta's original parents were killed by thieves and since then he was raised by a hunter family. Chanakya paid the hunter for the boy assuring that he would take good care of the boy.
Chanakya now had two options, Pabbata and Chandragupta Maurya. He wanted to test them to find out who is better. He gave both the boys an amulet with a woolen thread. One night while chandragupta Maurya was sleeping he asked Pabbata to remove the amulet from Chandragupta's neck without breaking it and without waking him up. Pabbata tried and failed. After some time when Pabbata was sleeping, Chanakya asked Chandragupta to do the same with Pabbata. Chandragupta Maurya cut the head of Pabbata and took the amulet. Untill Chandragupta Maurya became adult he was trained in royal duties by Chanakya. Chanakya know a technique to make 1000's of gold coins out of a single one. Thus he made huge amount of gold. When Chandragupta Maurya became adult, with that gold he assembled an army.
They marched towards Pataliputra, the capital of Nanda kingdom with the army to defeat Dhana Nanda but failed and ran away. Both Chanakya and Chandragupta were walking through a village. They saw a mother scolding her son for burning himself by eating from the middle of bowl of hot porridge rather than the cooler edge. By hearing those words Chanakya realised that they did a big mistake by directly attacking the capital city. He realised that they should first attack the outer villages and slowly march towards Pataliputra and defeat Dhana Nanda. This tactic worked and they started winning the outer villages. Now they attacked Dhana Nanda and defeated him.
Chandragupta Maurya was made the king and Chanakya was his prime minister. Chanakya eliminated the supporters of Nanda king from the kingdom. Chanakya started adding small amounts of poison into the food of Chandragupta Maurya so that he would get used to it. The aim of this was to prevent the emperor from being poisoned by the enemies. One day queen Durdhara shared the food with the King. She was pregnant at that time. Since she was not used to eating poisoned food, she died. Chanakya wanted to save the child who was about to be delivered in 7 days. Chanakya cut the belly of the Queen and took out the fetus. As there there was drops of poison on the face of baby, he was named as Bindusara. The fetus was placed inside belly of a live goat for seven days i.e, seven goats for seven days. After seven days a healthy baby was given to Chandragupta Maurya.Death:
Chandragupta abdicated the throne to become a jain monk and Bindusara was made the king. Chanakya was the prime minister for Bindusara too. Bindusara had a minister in his court named Subandhu who wanted to be in Chanakya's place and hate him. At any cost he wanted Chanakya to be thrown away from the court by the king Bindusara. He told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for killing Bindusara's mother. Bindusara inquired the nurses who were there at the time of his birth. They conformed that he cut his mother's belly. Bindusara was enraged with anger. Chanakya heard of news of this. Chanakya who had grown old decided to starve himself to death. Bindusara meanwhile heard the complete story of his birth and realised that there was no mistake done by Chanakya. He went to beg for the forgiveness of Chanakya but Chanakya would not relent. He then went and showed his fury on Subandhu and ordered him to beg Chanakya for forgiveness. Subandu somehow managed to burn Chanakya and killed him and projected that as a suicide. Chanakya's 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."
Chanakya wrote two famous books Arthashastra and Chanakya neethi. The book Arthashastra summarizes the political thoughts of Chanakya. The book contains detailed information about specific topics that are relevant for rulers who wish to rule an effective government. It includes the topics like Diplomacy, War, Recommendations on Law, prisons, Taxation, Irrigation, Agriculture, Mining, Fortification, Coinage etc. This book contains very valuable information which can be helpful in modern politics too. Chanakya was a man who have great knowledge in politics and Economics. There seemed to be nothing which he did not know.
The references of this article are Budhist legend Mahavamsa and Jain legend Parishishtaparvan and other scripts found in India.
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