Strategist and statesman, also known as Kautilya — the mind behind the Mauryan Empire's rise and author of the Arthashastra, a treatise on statecraft still studied today.
लगभग ४थी शताब्दी ई.पू. · circa 4th century BCE
A teacher at Takshashila, Chanakya is credited with identifying and mentoring the young Chandragupta Maurya, guiding him to overthrow the Nanda dynasty and found the Mauryan Empire in the 4th century BCE — reportedly in response to a personal humiliation at the Nanda court.
His Arthashastra covers statecraft, economics, military strategy, and law in exhaustive detail, and remains a reference point in both Indian political thought and, more recently, international studies of strategy. The Chanakya Niti, a separate collection of aphorisms attributed to him, remains widely quoted for its blunt, practical wisdom on daily conduct.