Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

Page 29

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When we read this story of Caṇakya, it immediately comes to our mind that though the similarity of name is there, this sage-like king of Ikṣvāku dynasty is not in any way connected with the arthaśāstrakāra Caṇakya, who was a brahmin prime-minister of Candragupta Maurya.
However, Hariṣena, the famous Digambara Jaina author of the Bṛhatkathā has incorporated these details of the Skanda and the Matsya-purāṇa in his Cāṇakya-muni-kathānakam. Surprisingly enough, Harisena mentions, 'चकार विपुलं राज्यं चाणाक्यो निजबुद्धितः’ (Bṛhatkathākoṣa, Cāṇakyamunikathānakam, verse 71) in which he says that Cāṇākya (?) ruled over the country for a long time with his great intelligence. The impact of the above-mentioned purāņas was so deep on Hariṣeṇa, that according to him Cāṇākya (?) went to Krauñcapura and attained siddhi by embracing samādhi-maraṇa. (Bṛhatkathākoṣa, Cāṇakyamunikathānakam, verse 84)
The threads of the story of Caṇakya-rajarṣi are skillfully woven in the depiction of Hariseṇa's Cāṇakya-narrative. It is not only Harisena to mix the two different tales but Pt. Mahadevshastri Joshi in his Bhāratīya-samskṛti-kośa had done the same thing. He quotes, 'The reference of the Matsyapurāṇa probably tells us about the last days and death of this great person.'
This is the classic example of creating a new legend by blending various details with added imagination!
[3] Cāṇakya's single-line references in the Viṣṇupurāṇa, the
Vayupurāṇa and the Matsyapurāṇa :
Almost every scholar engaged in Caṇakyan study, has invariably mentioned that we find the references of Caṇakya in the purāṇas and specially in the Viṣṇu, Vayu and Matsya-purāņas. But when