Chanakya – Who was he?
  Born in 3rd Century B.C. in  India, Chanakya was also known as Vishnugupta and Kautilya. Scholars down the  centuries have time and again described Chanakya as a rare mastermind who could  be an expert in so many varied and specialized fields like management,  economics, politics, law, leadership, governance, warfare, military tactics,  accounting systems among many others. The 6000 sutras have been classified into  15 books, 150 chapters and 180 topics by Chanakya himself.

He was responsible to bring down the Nanda dynasty and establish his able  student Chandragupta Maurya on the throne as the emperor. Hence he is called a 'King Maker'. He is also credited to have masterminded the defeat of Alexander in India when he  was on his march to conquer the world.

As a political thinker, he was the first to visualize the concept of a ‘NATION’  for the first time in human history. During his time India was split into various  kingdoms. He brought all of them together under one Central Governance, thus  creating a Nation called ‘Aryavartha’, which later became India. He documented  his lifelong work in his book ‘Kautilya's Arthashastra’ and ‘Chanakya Niti’.

For ages rulers across the world  have referred to the Arthashastra for building a nation on Sound Economics,  based on spiritual values.

Arthashastra when literally  translated means ‘scripture of wealth’ but it contains every subject under the  sun. It’s knowledge of wealth & wealth of knowledge.

NOTES
1. Chanakya, Kautilya and Vishnugupta are the names of the same person. Either of the names has been used in this book to refer to Chanakya.
2. This book is not a comparison against the western management ideas. Infact it is a complimentary to western management thoughts. We have taken the best from both the worlds.
3. In most cases the leaders has been referred to as ‘he’. But it also applies to ‘she’ as well. Since Chanakya has taken the King (male gender) as the leader ‘he’ is used taking that into consideration. Leadership and management skills is not gender based but it is a quality which can be developed as a ‘mind-set’
4. In the book the verse or sutra from Kautilya’s Arthashastra has been referred. Here the reference of Arthashastra verse number is given in the bracket. First digit is the book number. Second is for Chapter number and third digit is for verse number. For example, ““He (leader) should constantly hold an inspection of their works, men being inconstant in their minds” (2.9.3). So this verse is from Kautilya’s Arthashastra book 2, Chapter 9 and verses no 3. Same sequence has been followed in all chapters.
The basic book for the verses quoted is the English  translation of ‘Kautilya’s Arthashastra’ by R.P. Kangle of Mumbai University published  by Motilal Banarasidas. The explanations given are the interpretation of the  author. Various other translations and commentaries of Arthashastra other than  this are available.