“There is no sobriety equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentedness/ satisfaction; there is no disease like desire/ envy, and there is no virtue like mercy.” ...... Chanakya (370 BC - 283 BC) – perhaps the greatest teacher of all times, visionary, the exemplary educator of strategic management, effective leadership and efficient administration, and the practitioner of ethics and values in professional and personal life, and the pioneer in the field of economics and political science. ___________________________________ CHANAKYA Chanakya (aka Anshul/ Anshu/ Kautilya/ Vishnugupta) was born around 370 BC in Pataliputra – the capital of Magadh kingdom (now Patna in Bihar) in the Maithili Brahmin family of Acharya Chanak (an ascetic) and Chaneshwari. Legends have it that Chanakya had a full set of teeth at birth, an omen indicating that he would become a king or an emperor. But since he was born in a Brahmin family, it was considered inappropriate. Thus, his teeth were broken and it was predicted that he would make another person a king and rule through him. Little Chanakya started studying Vedas at a very early age. The Vedas – the toughest scriptures to learn – were completely studied and memorized by Chanakya in his infancy. Even as a child, Chanakya had the qualities of a born leader. His level of knowledge was beyond children of his age. Chanakya received the best-possible education of the time available at Nalanda – perhaps then the only university in world. In his childhood, Chanakya developed fancy for Suvasini (aka Suvas) – daughter of Amatya Shaktar (a close friend of his father and a minister of Mahananda – the then emperor of Eastern India). Suvas was beautiful, vivacious, kind-hearted and yet a fickle-minded girl. Chanakya and Suvasini used to play together and he used to help her in her studies. During the violent ouster of Emperor Mahananda, Acharya Chanak was killed and Amatya Shaktar, imprisoned. Chanakya and his mother left Pataliputra and shifted to nearby Kusumpur village. The turn of events that followed had a lasting impression on young Chanakya. With the shelter of father no-more, Chanakya and his mother were virtually penniless depending on charity to make the two ends meet. Chanakya had a burning desire to continue his studies and he had been impressed by the peers praising the education standards of Taksashila (aka Taxila) – another university comparable to Nalanda but over a thousand miles away from Magadh in the west (in Gandhar province, now in Pakistan). The Taksashila University had by that time existed for more than five centuries and attracted students from all over the ancient world. Chanakya did successfully undertake the arduous journey to Taksashila but was told by the dean of education that the studies at the university required money. Such was the determination and perseverance of young Chanakya that he prevailed upon the Taksashila professor to accept the fee-payment in the form of cleaning the utensils and other house-hold chores by Chanakya, instead of paying money as fees ! 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 favour 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 love. Chanakya did exemplary hard work at Taksashila impressing one and all. Eventually, after completing his education, he was appointed as a professor (Acharya) of political science in Taksashila. The stressful past had made Chanakya extremely cautious, wise, extremely critical analyst and fearsome strategist. Legends have it that Chanakya is called Kautilya because he practised “Kautilya-neethi” (in Sanskrit, “Kautilya” or “Kutil” means cunning/ clever, whereas “neeti” means ways) or the cunningly clever ways to achieve his purported missions and objectives. Three stellar works containing the visions, thoughts, ideas and solutions by Chanakya are: (1) Arthashastra, (2) Nitishastra and (3) 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. Niti-shastra is a treatise on the ideal way of life, and shows Chanakyas in depth study of the Indian way of life. His Arthashastra is a classic example of statecraft and politics and is read in Europe even today. It basically consists of the principles of politics and how the state works. An able ruler has to be a ruthless leader to make sure that the state works smoothly and efficiently. Chanakya is considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science and his work is thought of as an important precursor to Classical Economics. In the Western world, he has been referred to as the Hindu Machiavelli, although Chanakyas works predate Machiavellis by about 1800 years. Vedic culture reached its peak and Upanishads, containing the enlightening spiritual light, were emerging around 600 BC. The great teachers of masses and founders of practical spirituality – Bhagwan Mahavira (the founder of Jainism) and Gautam Buddha (the founder of Buddhism) – appeared around 500 BC. Mahananda – the great emperor of Eastern India – ruled up to 350 BC. He was dethroned by his royal barber Maha Padma who went on to also marry Mahananda’s wife Sunanda and became new powerful emperor. Then called Maha-padma Nanda, he and his eight sons, together known as “Nava Nandas” (Nine Nandas) ruled the vast territory of India known as Magadha empire. The exiled emperor Mahananda was kept in Royal Prison where he fathered Chandragupta in 344 BC through his maid caretaker Maurya or Mura. Thus, the child Chandra Gupta was also known as Chandragupta Maurya. His childhood memories had such a strong sway on Chanakya that he took leave of his Taksashila professorship to return to Magadh in search of his mother and his childhood friend Suvasini. Back in Magadh, Chanakya once engaged in a debate on contemporary topics in the court of Emperor Maha-padma Nanda. The emperor could not stand the intensely-logical and blunt Chanakya who spoke his mind clearly, and literally threw the latter out of his court. Hurt and humiliated Chanakya swore he would take revenge. Chanakya came across the young Chandragupta Maurya (son of the exiled emperor Mahananda) who even as a young child exuded the qualities of an able administrator. A repertoire of skillfully executed tactics by the master strategist Chanakya over just a few years brought about the ouster of Emperor Nanda and seating of young Chandragupta Maurya (340 - 293 BC) on the throne of Magadh empire in 317 BC. Chanakya had taken his revenge ! As his mentor, Chanakya ensured that Chandragupta ascended to be the first emperor in the archaeologically recorded history to rule the complete Indian Subcontinent. Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC; a Greek king of Macedon – a state in northern ancient Greece) attacked North-West India in 326 BC. Following the historic battle of the Hydaspes River (326 BC), Alexander and Porus (King of Paurava, an ancient state within the territory of modern day Punjab located between the Jhelum and the Chenab) became friends following which Alexander returned and passed-away in 323 BC at Babylon. After the death of Alexander, Seleucus was nominated as the satrap of Babylon in 320 BC and also ruled North-West India around 312 B.C. he was defeated by the emperor Chandragupta Maurya and accepted a matrimony alliance for 500 elephants after ceding the territories considered as part of India. Chandragupta married his daughter and forged familial bond between India and Greece in those ancient times. According to a legend, while Chanakya served as the Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya, he started adding small amounts of poison in Chandraguptas 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 babys head, and hence Chanakya named him Bindusara. Bindusara later went on to become a great king and to father the greatest Mauryan Emperor since Chandragupta – Ashoka the Great. 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 smouldering 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. ______________________________ By AVDHESH SHUKLA
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 17:17:19 +0000
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