What's New

Welcome to DenverIndians.comwho are we? Free Meditation Trainingread more.. Movie-Sathyam(Telugu) A portal for our community information.read more.. Place your ads for free Well,even if you want some help Want to sell? Apartment Guide Festivals calendarhere it is.. Immigration questions? post them here.. We thank our visitors for their suggestions and comments for enhancement of webiste Bharat Balani Umesh Maneesha Kochhar Kapil Jain Ravi Yellurpati ...to name a few.

Acharya Chanakya
Shrewd political strategist of third century BC a.k.a Kautilya

Acharya Chanakya was the Guru ( teacher ) of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya who had prepared and helped him to gain the Magadha empire and then served as his Prime Minister, for some time, for consolidating his rule. Professor of Political Economy ( Artha Sastra ) at Taksasila Visvavidyalaya ( university ) Chanakya is also known with the names of Visnugupta and Kautilya. Angry because of the generally unjust rule of Dhana Nand and particularly misbehaviour with him he got Magadha empire freed from him and put up Chandragupta Maurya on the throne.

Providing guidance and help to the brave Chandragupta Chanakya repulsed the attacks of the aliens (Greeks) on the kingdoms of Western India. The Guru (Preceptor) and his Sisya (disciple) established a bigest empire and arranged the best rule in it. Defeating the army chief of the Greeks they spread it upto the natural boundary of India, Hindu-kush mountain. For the administrative use of Chandragupta, Chanakya wrote his (Kautilya) Artha Sastra, a work which is an important and extra- ordinarily excellent treatise on Political Science, Economics Defense and war-policy. Foreign policy (diplomacy). Agriculture, Trade, Animal Husbandry, Mineral wealth and Industrial Policy, Law, Sociology (or Social ethics), Dharma etc.

He vowed to dethrone the haughty king who was harassing the people of the land. After fulfilling that vow, he made Chandragupta, the Emperor of Magadh. He brought Amatya Rakshasa from the enemy camp to serve as Chandragupta's Prime minister. His 'Arthashastra' is a classic of statecraft and is reverently studied even in Europe and elsewhere. Chankya is the personification of statesmanship, political craft, spirit of adventure and unyielding perseverance.

Chanakya was a very brilliant person. He was full of determination in achieving any objective. He was well versed in all 'Shastras' or branches of knowledge, an expert economist; a statesman par excellence. He was a master in the four methods - of persuasion, enticement, sowing dissension, and punishment or war. He was mature in the strategy of war, and very intelligent. None could makeup what was going on his mind. So secretive was he in his method, and far-sighted. In any endeavor, his calculations never went wrong and he never missed his aim. He was at the same time very religious and given to strict renunciation. Apparently of a harsh nature, he could employ various methods carefully at the right time to destroy enemies. There was no branch of knowledge, which he had not mastered. He was widely experienced in the world. There seemed to be nothing, which he did not know. He was, in other words, a conglomeration of all things that make a genius. Considered in any way, persons equal to Chanakya are very rare in the world. An expression "like the strategy of Chanakya" has become proverbial. He is the memorable man who destroyed the despotic Nanda kings, put Chandragupta on the throne and brought into being the great Maurya dynasty of rules.

Chanakya had the other name of Kautilya also. A great book which clearly shows his genius is still extant. It is called the "Artha-shastra." It has been translated into many other languages including English, French and German.

Unfortunately, what is authentically known about him is not much. We can only add various points and scattered material available in several books and present what could perhaps be his biography.

The great book 'Artha-shastra' written by Chanakya is world famous. Even European politicians, sociologists and economists study this book with interest.

It 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.

His sharp intellect is astonishing. According to Chanakya, the primary duty of a king is to protect "Dharma" or righteousness in society. That king who upholds righteousness and virtue will have happiness in this world and also in the next. Another significant statement made by Chanakya is that a king who uses his power improperly and unjustly also deserves to be punished.

"The sacred task of a king is to strive for the welfare of his people incessantly. The administration of the kingdom is his religious duty. His greatest gift would be to treat all as equals."

"The happiness of the commoners is the happiness of the king. Their welfare is his welfare. A king should never think of his personal interest or welfare, but should every try to find his joy in the joy of his subjects."

These words were written two thousand and three hundred years ago by Chanakya, the expert statesman and wise sage. And Chanakya is also another name for courage and perseverance.

– Contributed by Manu Varma