Chanakya (Kautilya)

~375–283 BCE · Indian · Maurya Empire

Known for: India's Machiavelli — wrote the Arthashastra 1,800 years before The Prince

Chanakya (also Kautilya or Vishnugupta) was the chief advisor to Emperor Chandragupta Maurya and author of the Arthashastra — a treatise on statecraft, economics, and military strategy that anticipates Machiavelli by nearly two millennia. He helped overthrow the Nanda dynasty and establish the Maurya Empire.

The Arthashastra covers taxation, espionage, foreign policy, law enforcement, and governance with ruthless pragmatism.

What Chanakya (Kautilya) would be watching

The “if they lived today” Q&A on this page gives Chanakya (Kautilya) House of Cards (1990) as a favourite film. Their reason: “Amateurish. But the Americans are learning.” Rankquant scores it above 99% of shows, drawn from 41 IMDb reviewers individually re-centred rather than averaged raw. The full film & TV rankings are built the same way.

Browse all 1,000 figures by category

Enable JavaScript to view the full "if they lived today" Q&A and personality profile.