Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

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and Śrīyaka. Later on Sthulabhadra became a Jaina monk and was the leader of the Jaina samgha. It is depicted in the Kathāsaritsāgara that Sakaṭāla's sons were killed in the dry well where Nanda had put the whole family of Sakaṭāla as a punishment of some offence. These details are not in congruence with the Jaina tradition. Therefore the whole Sakaṭāla-account is given by Harisena as a story of Kavi (or sometimes Kāvi), who was also one of the ministers of Nanda.
In the Katha, it was Śakaṭāla who installed Candragupta on the throne and persuaded Caṇakya to become his minister. In the Bṛhatkathāmañjarī and also in the Jaina sources, Cāṇakya himself installed Candragupta on the throne and became his chiefminister.
*
The Katha regards Candragupta as 'pūrvanandasuta' and suggests his 'kṣatriyatva'.
* According to the Katha, Cāṇakya killed Nanda by some occult practices of black magic. This is the main point of difference in the Brahmanic and the Jaina sources. This action of Caṇakya described in the Katha belittles the bravery of Candragupta and political tacticks of Cāṇakya.
[5] The Bṛhatkathāmañjarī of Kṣemendra (10th century A.D.):
In the 10th century, Kṣemendra, a Kashmirian brahmin wrote the sanskrit version of Guṇāḍhya's Baḍḍakahā. But the later version of Somadeva i.e. the Kathāsaritsagara surpassed the Mañjarī due to its poetic values. So we have also dealt with the Kathāsaritsāgara first and then the Bṛhatkathāmañjarī. The story of Caṇakya presented in the Mañjarī is brief than the Kathāo.
The story of the Mañjarī, basically describes the episode of