Significance of Chanakya in Indian History

History tells us that Chanakya lacked in physical beauty. Anyhow, he was a genius from within. He is know for his creative thinking, statesmanship, administration, and diplomacy.  Chanakya’s  place in the history of India is very significant. In the section below, we will discuss the significance of Chanakya in Indian History. I will not discuss the dates and events but the broader aspects.

About the ideas of equality and freedom:

He was the one who advocated those ideas for the first time and was even successful  in their implementation. It was his thinking and planning that provided India with its first emperor ChandraGupta Maurya who once was an ordinary peasant boy. The simple and straightforward ideology of Chanakya was against the caste system. He believed that the man must be judged by his capabilities and not by his birth.

The Vision of One United India:

In his time there existed no big empire. The Indian sub-continent comprised of of several small-small kingdoms. To worsen the situation, most of them were busy fighting themselves. When Alexander arrived there was none to offer him a decent amount of resistance. At that time Chanakya negotiated peace between different kingdoms and brought them together. The result was an army which was  many folds bigger and stronger than that of Alexander.

This worked, and Alexander decided to move back in fear of mutiny amongst his soldiers. The fact is not validated, but it said that Kautilya (Chanakya) managed to poison Alexander after which he became very sick.

In his regime for one united India, he declared Changragupta as king and slowly and steady began subduing kings and merging the kingdoms. The empire of ChandraGupta was a big one, if you don’t believe me then Google it by yourself. This was made possible in a time with no effective communication devices and roads to travel. (It had issues, but still we can appreciate the accomplishment.)

Revolutionized Civil Administration:

Chandragupta appointed him as his chief adviser. He laid the foundation of a social system that rewarded man for his accomplishment and not for his birth. For this Chanakya faced a lot of criticism, but he intelligently faced them all.

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Kautilya was a man of action. He is appreciated as well as criticized for doing what’s necessary. He was the one who had no hesitation to spill the blood of one to save many. For sure Chanakya’s mental capabilities were simply superb. History will be incomplete without mentioning his great contributions.

Even the modern global diplomacy revolves around the chanaky’s principle of  “saam, daam, dand, bhed” = “persuade, purchase, punish, exploit the weakness “.