The Original Machiavelli

The Mauryan dynasty began with a genius, determined to deliver his empire from danger, and hell-bent on revenge

Chanakya was born to a Brahman family in the northwestern province of Taxila – a centre of culture and learning where the finest studied science, economics, law, medicine and warfare.

A teacher’s son, the genius became a professor himself at a young age, and his study of politics led him to believe that India’s Nanda kingdom was in a dangerously vulnerable state. In the event of an invasion, he worried the entire realm would soon collapse. Desperate, he travelled east to the capital of Pataliputra, to advise the Nanda king, only to find him a manipulative tyrant. The experiment ended in disaster, with Chanakya fleeing disguised as a Jain ascetic – eventually coming across a brash young boy called Chandragupta.

Taking the young lad under his wing, he gave him a holistic education, hoping to mould him into the ideal ruler. As the two amassed financial support, they mounted a direct attack on the Nanda, failing spectacularly. Soon after, the duo watched a mother scold her son for eating the hot centre of a bun, rather than the cool edges – prompting a change in strategy. Shoring up allies in the Himalayas, they attacked the outskirts of the kingdom, slowly carving it up piece by piece, before eventually taking the capital itself and sending the Nanda king fleeing. Thereafter, Chandragupta was appointed king, creating the Maurya dynasty and ruling in the mould of Chanakya’s design. Chanakya, nicknamed Kautilya or ‘the Crow Like’, went on to pen Arthashastra, ‘Treatise on State Economy’, outlining his theories on statehood, rulership, political economy and international relations – ideas that would survive well into the British Raj.