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 The life of Chanakya, the royal advisor, teacher,
philosopher, economist and master strategist, is all set to
be depicted on the silver screen. Ajay Devgn will be
essaying the role of the great scholar, and even though
Indians are familiar with Chanakya, the details about his
life may not be as widely known.
 chanakya (l. c. 350-275 BCE, also known
as kautilya and Vishnugupta) was prime minister under
the reign of Chandra gupta mauliya(r. c. 321-c.297
BCE), founder of the mayuran empire (322-185 BCE).
He is best known as the author of the political
treatise arthashasthra which he wrote as a kind of
instruction manual for the young chandragupta on how
to rule effectively. The events of his life are known only
through legends from various traditions; no historical
documents have survived concerning him or his role in
the establishment of the Mauryan empire.
 According to one tradition, he served as advisor to the
last king of the Nanda Dynasty (c. 5th century -322 BCE)
Dhanananda (also given as Dhana Nanda, r. 329-
322/321 BCE) who ruled the Kingdom of magadha.
According to another, he was a Vedic scholar from the
university of taxila who visited the court of Dhanananda
where he was insulted at an alms-giving ceremony and,
after this event, devoted himself to deposing the king.
 He first attempted to enlist the king's son, Pabbata, in his cause and is also said
to have approached others before narrowing his most likely candidates down to
Pabbata and a young man who was either a lesser member of the noble house
or a commoner, Chandragupta. After testing the two youths, Chandragupta
proved the most resourceful and Chanakya focused his efforts on training the
future king for the next seven-to-nine years. When his training was completed,
Chandragupta overthrew Dhanananda and assumed control of Magadha.
 CHANAKYA WAS A BRAHMIN SCHOLAR FROM THE UNIVERSITY AT
TAXILA WHO ARRIVED AT THE COURT OF DHANANANDA FOR AN ALMS-
GIVING CEREMONY.
 The Arthashastra is considered Chanakya's training manual by which he
transformed Chandragupta from a citizen to a monarch. The precepts of
the Arthashastra not only enabled Chandragupta to seize power but to maintain
it, passing it down to his son, Bindusara (r. 297-c.273 BCE) and then to his
grandson Ashoka the Great (r. 268-232 BCE) whose initial success can also be
attributed to the Arthashastra until he grew disillusioned by war and converted
to Buddhism. The Arthashastra is informed by the philosophical school
of Charvaka (developed c. 600 BCE) which rejected the supernatural explanation
of phenomena in favor of a completely materialistic world view. The practical,
hands-on, nature of the Arthashastra most likely could never have developed
without the foundation of Charvaka to build on.
 The Arthashastra continued to exert considerable influence after the reign
of Ashoka but then disappeared and was considered lost until it was discovered in
1905 CE by the Sanskrit scholar Rudrapatna Shamasastry (l. 1868-1944 CE).
Shamasastry published the work in 1909 CE and then translated it into English and
published that version in 1915 CE which brought it greater attention.
 Since that time, the work has continued to be studied as one of the greatest pieces of
political science ever written, frequently compared to The Prince by
Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527 CE) whose treatise on how a Renaissance prince
should comport himself became as influential in European political science as
the Arthashastra was in India over 1500 years earlier. The central message of The
Prince – that a true leader is one who sees what needs to be done and is able to do it,
regardless of so-called morals – informs the Arthashastra as well. It has also been
compared with Plato's Republic and Sun Tzu's The Art of War as a manual for
establishing and maintaining a strong State
Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and
the youth.
 Acharya Chanakya by this statement explained that a person may be weak in terms of strength or may
be average or below average looking or may not have ample of wealth but he will be still treated as
wise person and gain a lot of respect from everyone and everywhere if he is well educated. A rich
person can lose his wealth, beauty may be lost in due course of time, relations and love made fade out
but education and knowledge never leaves a person in any condition. Acharya Chanakya Neeti gave
best life lessons that Education and knowledge can only be increased and in any condition it can not be
stolen from you.
Learn from the mistakes of others, you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
 This statement of Acharya Chanakya Neeti persuades a person to watch, observe and learn from your
environment and the people surrounding you. It means it is not neccessary to learn from your own
mistakes only but also you should observe others and learn from theoir mistakes as to not repeat them
and prevent yourself from unwanted troubles in your life.
Never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.
 Most important learning from Acharya Chanakya Neeti gave life lessons is that you
should never never disclose your secrets to anybody because you never know who
might use it against you. He said that in any circumstances you should not share your
weaknesses or your strengths to anyone. So that no one can attack upon your
weaknesses and no one can trick your strengths in any way.
Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, what
the results might be and will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find
satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
 Acharya Chanakya explained in his Chanakya Neeti that before beginning of any work or
implementing any strategy or initiating any plan, you should always go through these
questions with all the possible pros and cons so as to define the possibilities of your
success and failure.
The fragrance of flowers spread only in the direction of the wind. But
the goodness of the person spreads in all directions.
 Acharya Chanakya said that a person should always be good to
others irrespective of differences in cultures or communities. He
said that a person will die but his goodness remains forever. His
good deeds are remembered by people for ages and ages.
A man is great by his activities only, birth has nothing to do with it.
 Acharya Chanakya explained that a person becomes great in front of
people by the kind of things and activities he does in his life. Where
ever he born, whatever is his community, caste or language be that
may not decide anyone’s greatness. He has to prove himself by his
way of living and his activities towards society and humanity.
Humbleness is at the root of self-control.
Acharya Chanakya in his this statement says that best life lessons for a
successful and happy person in life you have to be as much humble as
you can. Your humbleness may weaken your enemies at times and it
will always keep you in self-control and increase your self-confidence
at the same time.

He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow for the root of all grief is the
attachment. Thus one should discard attachment as much as possible to be happy.
 Just like Bhagvad Gita, Acharya Chanakya also explained that one must not be over attached to his family.
Though this learning from Chanakya Neeti ia the most difficult one or we can say next to impossible to
follow but it has true sense. A person who is much attached to his family has some sort of expectations in
return. It may be in form of respect, love, sacrifice or service but most of the times even family members
are not able to fulfill those expectations to the limit that person thinks which creates sorrow and grief for
that person and differences within relations.
Actual knowledge is not confined in books and possessions. If it does, people can never use both of them
when practically they need to use those.
Acharya Chanakya in his Chanakya Neeti said that true learnings and knowledge cannot be stored or saved
in books or any kind of possessions. Knowledge is meant to be within ourselves and has to be applied in
each and every stage of life.
These are few of the most important learnings from Acharya Chanakya Neeti out of several ones. These are
not only helpful for Management students but they are actually very fruitful for any person if he implements
them.