7/29/2019 Chanakya and Kautilya

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Chanakya And Kautilya

Chanakya Vishnugupt lived in Taxshila. He was a sensitive observer of

people and events. He observed and studied deeply all aspects of lifethat he came across. As a result he digested and absorbed everything.He also had a phenomenal ability to present all that he knew in asimple manner. He was a very popular teacher at the University of

Taxshila. Since he had a rank akin to tenure in present day Americanuniversities, he did not take any particular courses, like economics or

political science. His talks would be a freewheeling discourse on theburning issues of the day covering all aspects of the issue.

Naturally his fame spread far and wide. He was invited to speak bymany institutions of the time. Nand was the king of Magadh. He feltthat his administration needed to be honed. So he invited Chanakya to

visit his kingdom as his honoured guest and to suggest ways ofimproving the systems. Chanakya arrived in Magadh and was received

royally. In a short while Chanakya identified the changes to be made

and then presented his recommendations to the court. Nand was upsetby the recommendation as they demolished many a holy cow. He losthis cool and ridiculed Chanakya in the full court.( bhari sabha). Nand's

sycophantic ministers joined in the ridicule and laughter.

Chanakya was taken aback. He had least expected this treatment. Hefelt humiliated and vowed to avenge himself by destroying Nand.

Kautilya was born at this point and Chanakya went into hibernation.

Kautilya is derived from the word kutil, meaning a scheming person.Machiavellian is a more recent example. Kautilya had full knowledge of

the weaknesses of Nand and his top executive as also of theirorganisation. He made full use of this knowledge, not to educate, asChanakya would have done, but to destroy. His success was aforegone conclusion but in the process he unleashed many a demon.

Worst, he himself became a ruthless executioner. He used people towork for his sinister goal. And when they were no longer useful for his

goal he just threw them out. Many whom he wanted eliminated weresent on suicide missions so that Kautilya's image remained of a

brilliant and noble minister. Eventually it came to a point whereKautilya could not face himself in the mirror. At this point Chanakyacame out of hibernation, left Magadh for good and went back to hisuniversity.

When adopting a strategy let us make sure who the author is, Chanakya or

Kautilya. They occupied the same body but were two different peoplealtogether. Their under lying motive was poles apart. It is also worthwhile to

note at which stage of the life journey certain writing was written or a

statement made. Vishwamitra could not have come up with the Gayatrimantra when his tapasya was driven by the desire to surpass Vashishtha.