Chanakya (c.350 - c.275 BC) also known as Kautilya is one of the earliest known political thinkers and king makers in the literal sense of the word. Seeking revenge for being thrown out of the court of the ruler of Magadha, Chanakya took a promising young boy of ten (Chandragupta Maurya) from the streets and brought him up to become one of the greatest emperors of India, which at that time was divided into several states and kingdoms.

India was united politically under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya. His writings have been echoed over 2000 years later when Swami Vivekananda cried out, 'Arise, Awake, sleep not till the goal is reached'. Chanakya brought Amatya Rakshasa from the enemy camp to serve as Chandragupta's Prime minister.

Probably the most accurate description of Chanakya can be found in Nehru's words in the Discovery of India. Chanakya has been called the Indian Machiavelli and to some extent the comparison is justified. A picture of him emerges from an old Indian (Sanskrit) play Mudra Rakshasa (Rakshasa's Ring) which deals with this period. Simple and austere in life, uninterested in pomp and pageantry of high position, when he had accomplished his purpose, he wanted to retire, brahminlike, to a life of contemplation.

Chanakya's Arthashastra is a classic of statecraft. Many of his nitis or policies have been compiled under the book Chanakya Niti.

According to Professor Roger Boesche:

"To return to Machiavelli's after reading the military writings of Kautilya is jolting. It becomes readily apparent that Machiavelli is not even trying to tell us something new about warfare, because he believed the ancient Greeks and Romans knew it all - aside from such things as artillery...

"They (Kautilya and Sun Tzu) were also prepared to win in ways Machiavelli would regard as dishonourable and disgraceful-assassination, disinformation, causing quarrels between ministers by bribes or by means of jealousy over a beautiful woman planted as a secret agent, and so on. Machiavelli - who offers no systematic discussion of even guerrilla warfare - would have been easily outmatched by generals reading either Sun Tzu or Kautilya."

See also

• P. V. Narasimha Rao who is often nicknamed Chanakya

External link

• Philosophy of Chanakya

• Kautilya's Arthashastra (full 1915 Shamasastry text, divided into 15 books)