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Chanakya (c. 350–283 BCE) was an adviser of the first Maurya Emperor
Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BCE), and was the chief architect of his rise to power.
Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political
treatise called the Arthasastra identifies its author, are traditionally
identified with Chanakya. It is important to identify Chanakya as a great Indian
because his cultural significance has reached far and wide, and his words are
just as internalised in other parts of South Asia. Chanakya has been considered
as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science.
In the Western world, Chanakya has been referred to as ‘The Indian Machiavelli’,
although his works predate Machiavelli's by about 1,800 years. Chanakya was a
teacher in Taksasila, an ancient centre of learning, and was responsible for the
creation of the Mauryan Empire, the first of its kind on the Indian
subcontinent. His works were lost near the end of the Gupta Dynasty and not
rediscovered until 1915.
The main diplomatic quarter of New Delhi is named Chanakyapuri.
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