Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

Page 44

अद्यापि बध्यमानां वध्यः को नेच्छति शिखां मे I
34
(Mudra, Act 1, verse 9, p.8)
At the end of the play, when helpless and blackmailed Rākṣasa accepts the chief-ministership of Candragupta, Cāṇakya ties his tuft with the following remarks
पूर्णप्रतिज्ञेन मया केवलं बध्यते शिखा ।
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(Mudra, Act 7, verse 17, p.310)
The Jaina authors are not ready to highlight Caṇakya's brahmanatva and are interested in depicting Cāṇakya as a śrāvaka. Therefore the incidents of releasing and tieing of tuft are absent in the Jaina references. In the Avaśyaka-cūrṇi the reference of tuft is totally absent. In the Parisiṣṭaparva of Hemacandra, the verse related to śikha (tuft) is added in the footnote.
Almost all the Jaina biographies have quoted one Sanskrit verse in which Caṇakya's oath (or vow) is expressed. The verse runs thus -
कोशेन भृत्यैश्च निबद्धमूलं, पुत्रैश्च मित्रैश्च विवृद्धशाखम् । उत्पाट्य नन्दं परिवर्तयामि, हठाद् द्रुमं वायुरिवोग्रवेगः ।।
AvCū.(I) p.563
We have tried our best to locate this oft-quoted verse in the brahmanic literature viz. the Kathāsaritsāgara, the Purāṇas and the play Mudrārākṣasa. Unfortunately this verse is untraceable in the brahmanic sourses. Thus the Jaina reference becomes important. [6] Strict laws of Cāṇakya :
For maintaining the law and order situation, Cāṇakya and Candragupta are very strict. Ample examples can be quoted from the play in this connection. The following references truely depict the strictness of the kingly orders -