India in its 5000-year history has given the world some of the best personalities ever born. People of any country can never match the charismatic person provided by this land of diversity. One such personality was Chanakya. It is almost impossible to think that his ideas discovered an significant position in the following years without any modifications and are still applicable as their original form.
Chanakya(c.350-283 B.C.) was the advisor and prime minister of the fantastic Maurian king Chandragupta Maurya(c.340-293 B.C.).This was perhaps the hardest pair of authority in world history. Infact, Chanakya was the primary cause of Chandragupta Maurya's increase of power.His other names, as referred to in his political saga Arthashastra, were Vishnugupta and Kautilya. Some considered him a pioneer economist, others said him an Indian Machiavelli, but he was the architect of the first Indian empire.
Chanakya was born with a complete set of teeth (identification of kings) but due to his cast of Brahmin his teeth were broken, but rule was in his destiny, although he achieved it through Chandragupta Maurya. At a very early age, Chanakya began to study Vedas. Chanakya was educated at a well-known college in a town that day Like Takshashila (later' Taxila' corrupted).
The Nanda king disrespected him and threw him out of his court, thus making a sense of revenge in the heart of Chanakya who later met a young Chandragupta and eventually formed a team with him and, after some time, destroyed the Nandas and made Amatya Rakshasa (a very smart Nandas minister) Chandragupta Maurya's prime minister.
Chanakya's great book' Artha-shastra' is world-famous. Even European politicians, sociologists and economists are interested in studying this book. T begins with a narrative of how royal princes should be brought up and how they should be educated. It is then explained how to select ambassadors and how to use spies. It also deals with how to protect a king from dangers and risks. Law and order, police duties, how to control and motivate rich citizens to make gifts for charitable purposes, methods of war prevention, duties of astrologers, priests and others,
tricks to be used to eliminate enemy kings, ways to induce human and animal sleep — these and many other topics are discussed in the treatise by Chanakya. Surprising is the wide range and variety of subjects themselves.
Some of his Niti shastra's quotes are
"A person shouldn't be too honest. Straight trees are cut first, and honest people are screwed first."
"Even if a snake isn't poisonous, it should pretend to be poisonous."
"The greatest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anyone. It's going to destroy you."
"There's some self-interest behind any friendship.
Without self-interest, there is no Friendship. This is a bitter truth."
"Before you start a job, always ask yourself three questions-Why am I doing it, What might be the results and I will be successful. Only if you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to those questions will you go ahead.
"As soon as the fear approaches, attack and destroy it."
"Once you start working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't give it up. The happiest are the people who work sincerely."
"The scent of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But a person's goodness spreads in all directions."
"A person is good by actions, not by birth." "Treat your child for the first five years like a lover. Scold them for the next five years. By the moment they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend."
"Books are as helpful to a dumb individual as a mirror is helpful to a blind individual." "Education is the greatest friend. Everywhere an educated individual is respected."
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India History