Fwd: The Birth And Death of Chanakya! by Jayakrishnan Nair

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jainfriends , " ymalaiya " <ymalaiya> wrote:

Actually the story of Chanakya occurs in many Jain texts, all of

them describing him as a Jain. Parishishta-parvan of

Hemachandracharya happens to be the one most easily available.

 

Accounts of Chanakya are found in

 

Avashyaka churni

Avashyaka Malayagiri vritti

Upadeshapad of Haribhadra Suri

Bhattapainna

Santharaga painna

Brahatkatha kosha of Acharya Harishena

 

It is also given in several texts written after Hemachandra.

 

Chanakaya is described as a a smart but scheming and plotting

minister. Eventually however he became weary of such a life and

retired and eventually accepted ingini-marana.

 

It is not surprizing that events of that time are described in

detail in the Jain tradition. The birth family of Acharya

Sthulabhadra served as ministers under the Nandas, and Chandragupta

Maurya eventually became a monk under Bhadrabahu.

 

Yashwant

 

King Nanda of Pataliputra

jainfriends/message/3418

 

 

" Mahavir " wrote:

 

> The Birth And Death of Chanakya! by Jayakrishnan Nair

> Subandhu, who still hated Chanakya, wanted to make sure that

Chanakya

> did not return to the city. So he arranged for a ceremony of

respect,

> but unnoticed by anyone, slipped a smoldering charcoal ember

inside

> the dung heap. Aided by the wind, the dung heap was on fire and

the

> man behind the Mauryan Empire and the author of Arthashastra was

> burned to death.

>

> R.C.C. Fynes writes in the introduction to the translation of `The

> Lives of the Jain Elders' that the stories told by Hemacandra are

> legend and not history. Historical reality may or may not be the

> basis of these legends. So we do not know if the story of the

death

> of Chanakya is history or legend. But this is the only one I could

> find.

>

> Footnote: This is an amateur attempt to understand Indian history.

> This article is in no way a complete survey of all literature

> available of the era. I wrote this article based on the books in

my

> possession to express my understanding of that period in Indian

> history.

>

> Notes:

>

> [1] Microsoft Encarta, 2003 Edition

>

> [2] Keay, John, India: a history, Harper Collins, 2000, Pg 60-62

>

> [3]Rangarajan L.N., The Arthashatra, Penguin Books, 1992, Pg 19.

>

> [4]Ibid, Pg 16

>

> [5]Balakrishnan V., History of the Syrian Christians of Kerala,

> Kerala Publications, 1999, Pg 50

>

> [6]Mookerji, Radha Kumud, Chandragupta Maurya and his Times,

Motilal

> Banarasidass Publishers, Fourth Edition, Pg, 18

>

> [7]Ibid, Pg 16

>

> [8]Hemacandra, The Lives of the Jain Elders, Oxford University

Press,

> Canto 8

>

> [9]Radha Kumud Mookerji, Chandragupta Maurya and his Times,

Motilal

> Banarasidass Publishers, Fourth Edition, Pg 40

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