NITAAI-Veda.nyf > All Scriptures By Acharyas > Chanakya Pandita > NITI SHASTRA > THE POLITICAL ETHICS |
THE POLITICAL ETHICS OF
CHANAKYA PANDIT
About 2300 years ago the Greek conqueror Alexander the
Great invaded the Indian sub-continent. His offensive upon the land's patchwork
of small Hindu empires proved to be highly successful due to the disunity of
the petty rulers. It was Chanakya Pandit who, feeling deeply distressed at
heart, searched for and discovered a qualified leader in the person of
Chandragupta Maurya. Although a mere dasi-putra, that is, a son of a
maidservant by the Magadha King Nanda, Chandragupta was highly intelligent,
courageous and physically powerful. Chanakya cared little that by birth he
should not have dared to approach the throne. A man of acute discretion,
Chanakya desired only that a ruler of extraordinary capabilities be raised to
the exalted post of King of Magadha so that the offensive launched by the
Yavanas (Greeks) could be repressed.
It is said that Chanakya had been personally offended by
King Nanda and that this powerful brahmana had vowed to keep his long sikha
unknotted until he saw to the demise of the contemptuous ruler and his drunken
princes. True to his oath, it was only after Chanakya Pandit engineered a swift
death for the degraded and worthless rulers of the Nanda dynasty that this
great brahmana was able to again tie up his tuft of hair. There are several
versions relating the exact way that Chanakya had set about eliminating the
Nandas, and it appears historians have found it difficult to separate fact from
folk legend as regards to certain specific details.
After the Nanda downfall, it became easy for Chandragupta
to win the support of the Magadha citizens, who responded warmly to their new
heroic and handsome young ruler. Kings of neighbouring states rallied under
Chandragupta's suzerainty and the last of the Greeks headed by Alexander's
general Seleucus were defeated.
With the dual obstacles of the Nandas and Alexander's
troops out of the way, Chanakya Pandit used every political device and intrigue
to unite the greater portion of the Indian sub-continent. Under the Prime
ministership of Chanakya, King Chandragupta Maurya conquered all the lands up
to Iran in the North west and down to the extremities of Karnataka or Mysore
state in the South. It was by his wits alone that this skinny and ill-clad
brahmana directed the formation of the greatest Indian empire ever before seen
in history (ie. since the beginning of Kali-yuga). Thus the indigenous Vedic
culture of the sacred land of Bharata was protected and the spiritual practices
of the Hindus could go on unhampered.
Although many great savants of the science of niti such as
Brihaspati, Shukracharya, Bhartrihari and Vishnusharma have echoed many of
these instructions in their own celebrated works*, it is perhaps the way that
Chanakya applied his teachings of niti-sastra that has made him stand out as a
significant historical figure. The great Pandit teaches us that lofty ideals
can become a certain reality if we intelligently work towards achieving our
goal in a determined, progressive and practical manner.
Dr. R. Shamashastry, the translator of the English version
of Kautilya's Artha-Sastra, quotes a prediction from the Vishnu Purana fourth
canto, twenty-fourth chapter, regarding the appearance of Chanakya Pandit. This
prediction, incidentally, was scribed fifty centuries ago, nearly 2700 years before
this political heavyweight and man of destiny was to appear. The prediction
informs us: "(First) Mahapadma then his sons - only nine in number - will
be the lords of the earth for a hundred years. A brahmana named Kautilya will
slay these Nandas. On their death, the Mauryas will enjoy the earth. Kautilya
himself will install Chandragupta on the throne. His son will be Bindusara and
his son will be Ashokavardhana." Similar prophecies are also repeated in
the Bhagavata, Vayu and Matsya Puranas.
In presenting this work I have traced out and referred to
two old English versions of Chanakya Niti-sastra published at the close of the
last century.*2 However, these apparently were translated by mere scholars (not
devotees) who seem to have missed many subtleties of Chanakya's vast wit and
wisdom. Another unedited and unpublished manuscript Chanakya Niti-sastra with
both English translation and Latinised transliteration produced by the
Vrndavana ISKCON Centre was also referred to. It was however the learned Vaishnava
pandit and Sanskrit scholar Shri V. Badarayana Murthy, of the South Indian
Madhva School, who helped me see the depth and import of these verses from the
original Devanagari. A very few slokas which were perhaps irrelevant or
otherwise not useful for our Vaishnava readers have been omitted.
I have been told that our blessed spiritual master His
Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada had expressed a desire that
Shri Chanakya Niti-sastra be properly translated into English. It is hoped that
our present rendering will be at least useful if not instructive to the reader.
Let us examine now in a few words on the science of niti, or common sense, from
the pen of Shrila Bhaktivinoda, the great 19th century devotee-pioneer of the
worldwide propagation of Lord Chaitanya's divine message.
Taking the two words "common sense" right up to
their highest level, he has written:
"Man's glory is in
common sense,
Dictating us the grace,
That man is made to live
and love
The beauteous Heaven's embrace"*3
In other words, the real goal of niti, indeed the goal of
life, is to realise one's eternal position of Krishna consciousness. The
Bhagavad-gita confirms Shrila Bhaktivinode's view in the final line of its last
sloka: dhruva nitir matir mama. A translation of that full verse runs:
"(Sanjaya said) Wherever there is Krishna the master of all mystics, and
wherever there is Arjuna the supreme archer, there will also be opulence,
victory, extraordinary power and morality (niti). That is My opinion."
I would especially like to thank Shri Raju Whabi (Rukmini
Krishna dasa) of Bombay for his generous financial contribution. I am also
grateful to Shrimati Rani Lila Ram Kumar Bhargava of Lucknow, a prominent
ISKCON Life Member, and her twin sons Lava and Kush of Raja Ram Kumar Press,
for speedily bringing out this volume.
Miles Davis
(Patita Pavana dasa)
Makara
Sankranti Day
Pausa
Shukla Navami
14th
January 1981
Lucknow,
India
--*****--
* Brihaspati Samhita of Garuda Purana, Shukra-Niti, Niti-Shataka
and Pancatantra respectively.
*2 Shri K. Raghunathaji's version of "Vriddha-Chanakya - The
Maxims of Chanakya" (Family Printing Press, Bombay, 1890) has proven to be
an especially useful reference in bringing out this present edition.
*3 Obviously Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura used the word
"heaven in the English sense meaning "eternal spiritual
kingdom."
--*****--