Chanakya Explored in Jaina Literature

Author(s): Nalini Joshi
Publisher: Firodaya Prakashan

Page 46

36
‘कौटिल्य: कुटिलमतिः स एष येन क्रोधाग्नौ प्रसभमदाहि नन्दवंशः ।'
Mudrā', Act 1,verse 7, p.8 In the 25th verse of the first act Cāņakya says, glaista hu '44' i.e. 'Let everything else leave me except my intelligence.' According to the Jaina epistemology, intelligence is fourfold. Autpattiki is inborn ; vainayiki is the knowledge which we get through the instruction by gurusevā; karmajā is acquired skill and pāriņāmiki is the wisdom which one gets through the life-long experiences. The Āvaśyaka-cūrņi depicts various incidents in the life of Cāņakya as the examples of pāriņāmiki-buddhi. A bit underestimation is seen in the ĀvCū. Haribhadra, the literary mayestro of the 8th century depicts Cāņakya as a possessor of threefold intellect i.e. autpattiki, vainayikī and pāriņāmikī. 16 Though the Jainas have high regards for Cāņakya, according to them the epitome of intelligence is Abhayakumāra, of course, a prominent personality in the Jaina his
tory.
Cāņakya in the Mudrārākṣasa is kutila-mati i.e. an adept in all crooked ways. In fact Cāņakya and Rākṣasa are both intelligent conspirators but Cāņakya is always one-step-ahead. Both of them respect each other. In short we can say that Cāņakya in the Mudrārākṣasa is extremely sharp, scheming, crooked, confident and to a certain extent, arrogant. [8] Cāņakya's address to Candragupta :
In the whole drama, he addresses Candragupta as vrşala i.e. an epithet showing the lower caste of Candragupta.
From the Jaina perspective of Cāņakya, it is shocking and almost impossible that every now and then he refers the low birth of