Chanakya-The greatest diplomat cum politican of all times
For centuries to come and centuries of recorded history, if we go through the legendary characters who are praised for their great vision, exemplary actions and high intelligence, then one of the foremost personality that will come to our mind is Chanakya. Accepted as a genius thinker by both Indian and western historians, he lacked physical beauty but was feared for his creative thinking, statesmanship, administration, and diplomacy. He was a selfless ascetic, ruthless administrator, wise politician and devoted nationalist. He was very outspoken, great thinker, fearless and man of action. His guts to speak against the ruling king and ministers reflected his courage and strong inclination to democratic values. Totally against the caste system by birth, he advocated treating the man according to his capabilities and karma. He was a master in turning the tables in his favor irrespective of the difficult circumstances. Because of his dangerous tactics and strategies that often turned successful, he was regarded as a one man army. His wit and cleverness is quite understood from his achievement of unifying the entire Indian sub-continent under a single rule.
Chanakya-The great scholar of politics and economics
At a very young age, Chanakya learnt Vedas and Upanishad in Taxila University. Since childhood, Chanakya was interested in politics and economics. Though Chanakya was only a small-time teacher in Taxila University, he was able to influence the working of the government through his shrewdness and intelligent talks. His students admired him as an ideal teacher and were ever-ready to sacrifice their life for their guru.
Chanakya-the greatest diplomat cum thinker of all times
Aim of bringing entire India under one rule (Ek-chatra)
During the era of Chanakya, Indian sub-continent comprised of several small kingdoms, most of which battled among themselves for land, resources, dominance and prosperity. Beholding alexander intention to rule entire India by taking undue advantage of internal fights between Indian rulers, Chanakya undertook the task of negotiating peace between the opposing kingdoms to make them fight under a single umbrella against the invading Greek army.
<>
On the historical day of embarking from his university to unite different kingdoms of India, Chanakya said
"Now the time has come to leave the university. The scrupulous rulers of the country must be uprooted and there is a need to strengthen the country politically and economically. My first and foremost duty is to save the country of the foreign invaders and salvage this dangerous proposition."
Chanakya stops the invasion by alexander
Chanakya facilitated the truce between all opposing kingdoms to join hands against the invasion by Greek king alexander.
Chanakya brought all kings on the same platform
Seeing the huge army of several Indian kingdoms, alexander pissed in his pants and pulled back his army. It is said that Chanakya managed to poisoned alexander after which he died out of sickness.
<>
From small-time teacher to great scholar of nanda empire
Later, He went to Patliputra(present Patna also known as Pushpapur or Pushpanagar). Patliputra was the most prosperous city of that era with plenty of natural resources, industries, luxuries and good connectivity. Patliputra welcomed scholars and intellectuals from all across the countries for the development of the state. During the initial days of ruling, Dhanananda, the ruler of pataliputra was very cruel and greedy. Public was very angry with exorbitant tax rates imposed by him for the fulfillment of his selfish desires. After confrontation with Chanakya, Dhanananda became a lenient administrator and formed a committee of scholars and influential ministers to help the poor citizens of the nation. Being a great scholar, Chanakya was included in the committee and due to his remarkable intelligence and shrewdness, he quickly progressed to become the president of the committee.
Chanakya challenges nanda king “Dhanananda”
Dhanananda did not like the appearance and direct, fearless talk of Chanakya. Seeing the contempt for Chanakya in Dhanananda eyes, jealous courtiers dissuaded the king to banish Chanakya. However, Chanakya remain totally professional and spoke the truth bluntly as he used to do before. Misinterpreting his direct talk as insulting behavior, Dhanananda removed him from the post of president without citing any reasons.
<>
Enraged by this exploitation, Chanakya roared, "Arrogance in you has eroded the respect which I had for you. You have removed me from the presidentship for no fault of mine. You can’t act in a way detrimental to the demeanor of a king. You think there is none to question you? You have removed me from my rightful place and I will dethrone you!"
Chanakya challenging the ruler dhanananda
Chanakya meets Chandragupta
Wandering across the streets of Patliputra, Chanakya kept thinking about dethroning the king. Though he was angry, he remained calm and never let emotions take over his mind. One morning, while Chanakya was plucking the roots of the grass calmly, young boy named “Chandragupta”, watching him very closely approached him. After a brief casual talk, Chandragupta informed Chanakya about multiple attempts to kill his father by the nandas, their step-fathers. Chanakya remembered Chandragupta as a young boy openly raising voice against the cruel and corrupt practices of Dhanananda. Seeing the wisdom, courage, intellect and fire of revenge in Chandragupta eyes, Chanakya was emotionally charged and offered Chandragupta the proposal of dethroning the nanda king and making him the rightful king of Pataliputra.
Chandragupta maurya rules the entire Indian sub-continent
Under the guidance of Chanakya, Chandragupta learnt the art of warfare, politics, martial arts, and effective governance.
<>
Learning from their earlier mistakes, duo relationship of Chanakya and Chandragupta bloomed multi-fold which ultimately resulted in the complete control of Indian-subcontinent under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya. “Chandragupta Maurya” defeated the powerful Nanda Empire to become the first king of medieval India to rule entire Indian sub-continent that included present Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and parts of persia.
Though it looked like Chanakya was obsessed with personal revenge against the nandas, it was not so. His aim was good administration, better security and prosperity of the nation. He preached
"The secret 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 try to find his joy in the joy of his subjects."
Preaching politics and diplomacy through books
Chanakya believed in sharing of knowledge and broadcasted his vast knowledge through books, lectures, teaching in university and preaching in temples. Among his several books, two famous ones are Arthashastra and Chankya Neeti. Arthashastra is a manual on management of state affairs dealing with the art of running a state, dealing with monetary and fiscal policies. The book is read by diplomats across the worldto develop political strategies. The quotes from Chanakya Neeti are very popular and applicable to day-to-day life of every individual.
Chanakya famous thoughts and quotes
Chanakya thoughts on effective administration of a kingdom is still alive and followed by different governments of the world. His thoughts on taxation is widely followed by the western world
"Taxation should not be a painful process for the people. There should be leniency and caution while deciding the tax structure. Ideally, governments should collect taxes like a honeybee, which sucks just the right amount of honey from the flower so that both can survive. Taxes should be collected in small and not in large proportions".
His views were very farsighted and righteous. On corruption, he said
"It’s just as difficult to detect an official’s dishonesty as it is to discover how much water is drunk by the swimming fish".
<>
According to him, “What remains at the end matters” and so, the ruler should not hesitate in following the immoral path to attain his goals or objectives. Ethics and morality should be secondary to the ruler if the action is in the interest of the nation
“A person who is greedy for money can be given money and controlled. An egoistic person can be controlled by being polite. A fool can be controlled by agreeing to whatever he says and an intelligent person can be kept in control by always speaking truth in front of him.”
“An intelligent is one who in every difficult situation remains patient and finds solution to his problems calmly.”
“Every parent should spread love and pampering to their children till they are 5 years old. When the child grows up to the age of 10, his misbehavior should not be ignored and an appropriate punishment must be given. This saves his future mistakes. And when the same kid turns 16, parents should be his/her friends.”
“Acharya Chanakya says that a place where there is no respect, no way to earn money and has no facility, friend or relative, such places should be left immediately.”
“One should find out the character of a person like how is his nature, whether he talks properly or with arrogance. A person’s behavior talks about his nature also.”
“A person, who runs after things even when he has enough things with him, always remains unhappy.”
“One should always follow successful people in life.”
“Never let go of any opportunity as it will never come back again.”
Chanakya view of a great nation
He lived his entire life for his life-long goal of a strong and prosperous India. Out of the various economic activities for economic prosperity like agriculture, cattle, animal husbandry, commerce and trade, he gave the topmost priority to agriculture. Not a strange fact that Indian economy is still an agro-based one. Chanakya dreamt of India as a social and economic powerhouse where progress would be measured using the following parameters:-
• Economy of the nation should be self-sufficient and should not dependent on foreign trade.
• An egalitarian society where all humans have equal rights and opportunities.
• Creation of new colonies for the development of natural and manmade resources, along with the development of the already annexed colonies.
• Efficient management of land for optimum development of resources. Appointed officers should monitor every piece of land for its unauthorized use by the landowners.
• Machinery and advanced techniques of harvesting and farming should be provided by government to the farmers for optimum agricultural output and growth of the nation.
• Nation should construct forts, Siegecraft and cities for protection against natural calamities and attack by the enemy.
• Internal trade is more important than external trade. Minimum tax should be collected at each point of entry of goods so that there is no chance of tax evasion.
• Laws of the nation should treat all citizens equally irrespective of their ranks, position and influence. Widows, orphans and destitute women should be protected from the exploitation and uncouth behavior of men.
• Maximum resources should be allocated towards the security of the nation. Spies should be placed at different corners of the nation to watch for robbers, murderers, rapists and other antisocial activities.
• Chanakya envisioned of creating such a society in which the members are moralistic, spiritual and not running behind materialistic comforts. Through spiritual development, control over the sense organs was advised for internal strength and success in any endeavor. Materialistic comforts and pleasures were considered secondary compared to the spiritual development of the society and nation.
Summary:-
Chanakya’s intelligence and mental capabilities were simply superb. History will always remember him for his great contributions. An immortal figure, Chanakya will probably remain the greatest diplomat world will ever see.
Note: Images used on this website
are either a production of Bhaktivedanta Book Trust(https://www.krishna.com), Iskcon
Foundation or were found in google search under "Free to use and share". If any
of the images presented here violates copyright issues or infringes anyone copyright
or are not under "Fair use", then please bring it to our notice. Read
Disclaimer for more.
Share this to your friends. One of your friend is
waiting for your share.
Related Articles
Chanakya-The greatest diplomat cum politican of all times
Why Diwali is celebrated and what it teaches us
Bhagavad gita Chapter1, verse 3 english and hindi poetic translation with lessons
Why I am proud to be an indian
Who invented snakes and ladders
Are Egyptians ancestors Indian in origin
swastika good luck coins of American private organizations
Origin of word Hindu
swastika good luck coins of American insurance companies
Did Greeks worshipped lord krishna
Post Comment