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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
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,
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
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
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,
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
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.