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CĀŅAKYA-RĀJA-NĪTI
2. Next to the heroes of the epics and the Purāṇa-s
no name was more familiar to Indians than that of
Cāṇakya. The very fact that almost universal adora-
tion was paid to his memory shows that Cāṇakya
was regarded in his own days as a master whose worldly
wisdom and foresight had gained for him the venera-
tion of his contemporaries. Their reverence has been
transmitted from one generation to another and his
real history having been forgotten, tradition has sur-
rounded his name with a halo of intellectual glow
that has marked him out for the spontaneous veneration
of posterity, not only in India, but also in the ancient
world outside.¹
3. Among the Purāṇa-s, the Vişnu-purāṇa preserved
the tradition that Kautilya had destroyed the Nanda-s
and through his diplomacy had put Candragupta
Maurya on the throne.2 The Mudrārākṣasa 3 and the
Caṇakya-kathā are also devoted to this story. The
most prominent character in these works, Cāṇakya,
is represented as a clear-headed, self-confident,
intriguing, hard politician, with the ultimate end of
his ambition thoroughly well-determined, and direct-
ing all his clear-headedness and intrigue to the
accomplishment of that end. As such he is depicted
in the Mudrārākṣasa rather as kutila-crooked-than as
¹ N. C. Banerjee, Kautilya, pp. 1-2.
2 ibid., p. 3.
3 See text in BSS 27 and Introd. by K. T. Telang. Cf. W.
Ruben, 'Das Siegel und Räkshasa', Der Sinn des Dramas, Berlin,
1956.
CĀŅAKYA-RĀJA-NĪTI
2. Next to the heroes of the epics and the Purāṇa-s
no name was more familiar to Indians than that of
Cāṇakya. The very fact that almost universal adora-
tion was paid to his memory shows that Cāṇakya
was regarded in his own days as a master whose worldly
wisdom and foresight had gained for him the venera-
tion of his contemporaries. Their reverence has been
transmitted from one generation to another and his
real history having been forgotten, tradition has sur-
rounded his name with a halo of intellectual glow
that has marked him out for the spontaneous veneration
of posterity, not only in India, but also in the ancient
world outside.¹
3. Among the Purāṇa-s, the Vişnu-purāṇa preserved
the tradition that Kautilya had destroyed the Nanda-s
and through his diplomacy had put Candragupta
Maurya on the throne.2 The Mudrārākṣasa 3 and the
Caṇakya-kathā are also devoted to this story. The
most prominent character in these works, Cāṇakya,
is represented as a clear-headed, self-confident,
intriguing, hard politician, with the ultimate end of
his ambition thoroughly well-determined, and direct-
ing all his clear-headedness and intrigue to the
accomplishment of that end. As such he is depicted
in the Mudrārākṣasa rather as kutila-crooked-than as
¹ N. C. Banerjee, Kautilya, pp. 1-2.
2 ibid., p. 3.
3 See text in BSS 27 and Introd. by K. T. Telang. Cf. W.
Ruben, 'Das Siegel und Räkshasa', Der Sinn des Dramas, Berlin,
1956.