Chanakya

A statesman and strategist traditionally credited with advising the founding of the Mauryan Empire and authoring a treatise on statecraft.

scholarship. Modern scholarship — academic/historical analysis.
Tradition: hinduism Period: mauryan-empire Theme: statecraft Theme: strategy Theme: political-theory

Chanakya is the name tradition attaches to the strategist credited with engineering the founding of the Mauryan Empire and with authoring a major treatise on statecraft. As with several early figures in this archive, the historical person and the legendary advisor are not straightforwardly the same thing, and the two need to be held apart.

A founding story, and its uncertainties

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Related in the archive

Concept

Dharma

A cluster of ideas around duty, order, and right conduct that is understood differently across Indian traditions.

Concept

Purushartha

The classical scheme of four legitimate aims of human life — duty, prosperity, pleasure, and liberation — held in tension.

Place

Taxila

An ancient city and centre of learning and exchange, known from extensive archaeology and references in a range of sources.

Period

The Mauryan Empire

One of the earliest and largest empires on the subcontinent, known from a combination of inscriptions, archaeology, and later accounts.

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