Chanakya # Teacher of Chandragupta Maurya, who was also his Chief Minister. # He was a teacher and scholar at Taxila. # Other names are Vishnugupta and Kautilya. # He was also a minister in the court of Bindusara. # He is credited to be the master strategist behind the usurping of the Nanda throne and the rise of the Mauryan Empire through his student, Chandragupta. # He wrote Arthashastra which is a treatise on statecraft, economics, and military strategy. # Arthashastra was rediscovered by R Shamasastry in 1905 after it had disappeared in the 12th century. # The work contains 15 books and 180 chapters. The main theme is divided into: King, Council of Ministers and Departments of the Government # Civil and criminal law # Diplomacy of war # It also contains information on trade and markets, a method to screen ministers, spies, duties of a king, ethics, social welfare, agriculture, mining, metallurgy, medicine, forests, etc. # Chanakya is also called ‘Indian Machiavelli”.