Chanakya-Chandragupta: Great Teacher and Student Duo Of Maurya Empire

After  jodha Akbar, Ekta Kapoor has returned once again with  a historical Saga Chandra Nandini. The show is being aired on Star Plus and is based on emperor Chandragupta Maurya’s life.

At present this serial is showing, How Chanakya and Chandragupta Maurya are planning to defeat the present king of Magadh Mahapadma Nanda. Though i am little bit dissappointed with the cast of Chanakya as, Manoj Kolhatkar who is essaying the role of chanakya was  earlier seen as Mahamatya Khatatak in Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat, the one who was aiding Sushim and Maharani Charumitra and was against Chanakya.But it  is quite amazing to see the relationship shared by these two.

Also Read :  Chandra Nandini – Is it Real or mare a fiction for TRP

So, without wasting any time we will see, All About Chanakya-Chandragupta:Great Teacher and Student Duo Of Mauryan Empire through the lens of History.

 Who Was Chanakya

Chanakya was an Indian teacher, economist and a political adviser. He played a key role in the establishment of the Maurya dynasty. He is also known as Kautilya or Vishnu Gupta.

he also helped the king to  establish his Maurya empire be defeating the Nanda empire. Chanakya was the most revered advisor to both Chandragupta and his son Bindusara.

Chanakya’s birthplace is still a matter of debate, possibly he was  born in a city near by Pataliputra (modern day Patna). According to the Buddhist text Mahavamsa Tika, his birthplace was Taxila, but According to some other Jain accounts, he was a native of South India.

According to a popular story  Chanakya was born with  full set of teeth, which was a sign that he would become a king or an emperor. But his parents did not want this to happen, so his teeth were broken.Later it was predicted that he would make another person a king and rule through him.

Even Chanakya’s death is clouded with mystery,However, there are two different versions  of it.

According to one version, Chanakya retired to the jungle and starved himself to death.But in another version as mentioned by the Jain writer Hemachandra, Chanakya died as a result of a conspiracy by Subandhu, one of Bindusara’s ministers. Subandhu, who did not like Chanakya, told Bindusara that Chanakya was responsible for the murder of his mother. Bindusara asked the nurses, who confirmed the story of his birth. Bindusara was horrified and enraged. When Chanakya, who was an old man by this time, learned that the King was angry with him, he decided to end his life. In accordance with the Jain tradition, he decided to starve himself to death. By this time, the King had found out the full story which was that Chanakya was not responsible for his mother’s death, which was an accident. He asked Subandhu to convince Chanakya to give up his plan to kill himself. However, Subandhu instead conducted a ceremony for Chanakya only to burn him alive.

Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire and the first emperor to unify north and south west of present-day India into one state.

In Greek and Latin accounts, Chandragupta is known as Sandrokottos and Androcottus. He became well known in the Hellenistic world for conquering Alexander the Great’s easternmost satrapies, and for defeating the most powerful of Alexander’s successors, Seleucus I Nicator in battle.

Very little is known about Chandragupta’s youth and ancestry .

Many Indian literary traditions connect him with the Nanda Dynasty in modern-day Bihar in eastern India.

Chandragupta Maurya killed Dhana Nanda but according to Chandra Nandini he killed Mahapadma Nanda  to acquire his kingdom with the help of Chanakya.

It is believed that Chandragupta gave up his thorn at the age of 42 and became a Spartan.

Chanakya oath -“I will destroy you”

Chanakya was  a professor in the Taxila University, when he got news about probable foreign invasion. Europe’s great warrior Salukes was readying his armies to attack the weakened republics of India.With the thought of saving his beloved country  in mind, he left Taxila University for Patliputra.

At that time Magadh was being ruled by Dhanananda. He was cruel sort of person and was a villain in the public eye. As Chanakya was a great scholar from Taxila, he was included in the committee for charity and later on became the president of the Trust .Chanakya was a very straight forwad person and avoided praising the king. He always spoke bluntly and tersely. The king did not like the way Chanakya behaved with him so  he removed Chanakya from the post of president without any reasons and later on insulted him infront of all.An enraged Chanakya vowed not to tie his hair in the customary Brahminical top-knot until he had avenged his insult.He took the oath to destroy the king.

Chanakya meets young Chandragupta

There are  so many versions of the story of  how they met ,but the most famous one is that,after escaping from Mgadh, Chanakya reached to the Vinjha forest. There, he made 800 million gold coins  using a secret technique that allowed him to turn 1 coin into 8 coins. After hiding this money, he started searching for a person worthy of replacing Dhana Nanda. One day, he saw a group of children playing: the young Chandragupta  played the role of a king, while other boys pretended to be vassals, ministers, or robbers. The “robbers” were brought before Chandragupta, who ordered their limbs to be cut off, but then miraculously re-attached them. Chandragupta had been born in a royal family, but was brought up by a hunter after his father was killed and his mother  abandoned  him. Astonished by his miraculous powers, Chanakya paid 1000 gold coins to his foster-father, and took him away promising to teach him a trade.

For the next 7 years, Chanakya trained Chandragupta for royal duties. When Chandragupta became an adult, Chanakya dug up his hidden treasure of gold coins, and assembled an army.

The relationship between Chandragupta and Chanakya bloomed through the years developing into a strong force for their enemies

 Nanda king was Defeated

First Chanakya-Chandragupta Tried  policy of attacking the core of the city. The policy met with defeats again and again,so they again assembled a new army, and started conquering the border villages. Gradually, they advanced to the kingdom’s capital Pataliputra, where they killed the king Dhana Nanda. Chanakya then prononced Chandragupta as the new king.

The largest empire yet seen in Indian history

Under guidance of Chanakya, Chandragupta succeeded in conquering  almost all of the Indian subcontinent by the end of his reign, except Tamil Nadu and modern-day Odisha (Kalinga). His empire extended from Bengal in the east to Afghanistanand Balochistan in the west, to the Himalayas and Kashmir in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. It was the largest empire yet seen in Indian history.

Chanakya was the person and power behind Chandragupta’s early rise to power. It was Chandragupta Maurya who founded the great Maurya empire but he couldn’t have done it without Chanakya’s guidance.

In history these two will be always remembered as the greatest  Teacher and Student Duo, who succeeded because of the faith and the respect they have  for each other.