Just completed reading a book on "Chanakya" - The author of "Artha Sashtra", pioneer of political science. The book was mostly related to his oath on building a new empire, eradicating the Nanda dynasty. Hope many would have read about him in their school days, but it was just a subject that time. Chanakya'a ambition was to form an empire who could rule entire India under his umbrella. Main reason for such a thought was to protect India from Alexander kind of supremos, who started conquering the whole world. India at time was split as multiple regions with rulers for each region, like South was split between Chera, Chola, Pandiya's.
Few interesting things..
1. Chanakya was born in Tanjore district [Kochi mandalam at that time], then moved to Pataliputra along with his father "Chanak". He was a political science teacher.
2. Though he had an ambition to form a "One India" rule, the thrust towards his goal was the insult he had in the kingdom on Nanda. He was insulted twice in Pataliputra, once when he was young [BTW, His father was killed in pataliputra and Chanakya moved to Dakshaseelam and learnt there] and the second time in the Nanda kingdom when he was thrown out during a meal time for sitting in front of gold plate which Nanda kings and their chief guru will use. Others will be served in silver plates..
3. Chandragupta Maurya, who has the right to be in throne, but suppressed by the Nanda rulers that time met Chanakya accidentally and surrendered him completely.
4. Followed was all Chanakya's work in collecting support from neighboring rules, forming a anti-force against the rulers, making Chandragupta name visible to the world [PRO] and slowly eradicating the complete dynasty and other surrounding rulers to make a single empire.
5. Many times they won regions through "brain" rather "fight". Chanakya was behind many scenes and Chandragupta didnt even know what'z happening... He just trusted Chanakya in full.
6. Once a grass/bush stuck him on his way to palace making him to slip down. He just digged around the grass, found its core root, plucked it off, burnt it, mixed with water and drank it. Anything interfering on his way was his enemy and has to be rooted down. This was the time when Chandragupta Maurya met him. Since they had the same goal, they become close friends..
Due to lack of time, i cant write the whole story here. But its always amazing to read the history on how a single man, born somewhere in south side, stood out to completely change the history of India, that too 2300 yrs back, when India was split into multiple regions and Alexander was eating up the whole world. Earlier I had a negative impression on Chanakya like he was a kind of wicked politician, using Chandragupta as a key to fulfill his oath. But after reading him to some extent, it was a real surprise to see that Chanakya had a real big ambition [One India] for the interest of his country, and many incidents quote that people loved him.
One example was, Chandragupta, Chanakya and other royal men went on a pilgrimage to Kasi and other holy places. During the time, Chanakya ordered to build a stupa with four sides.. One side with Buddhist sculptures, second side with Jain stuff, third with Greek stuff and the fourth side left blank. The "blank" side was to respect people who dont believe in god. Amazing isnt it?
http://bhojpuria.com/people/chankya.php
- Raguraman
