6.1. The character of Cāṇakya

[Full title: Characterisation in Mudrārākṣasa (1): The character of Cāṇakya]

Viśākhadatta has shown great skill in portraying Cāṇakya and bestowing individuality on his character than that of other characters of the drama.

The drama Mudrārākṣasa begins with the appearance of Cāṇakya on the stage. He is full of anger, and is expressing his displeasure of what he heard the Sūtradhāra say—

“That wicked Ketu, of malicious resolve, wishes, preface, to overwhelm Candra having the full maṇḍala.”^[1]

Hearing this remark and pretending that some enemies are going to attack Candragupta, Cāṇakya burst out with anger and from behind the curtain he says,—

āh, ka eṣa mayi sthite candramabhibhaviturmicchati.

This single sentence is enough to interpret the personality of Cāṇakya to the audience. This shows that no power in this world, however strong, can harm Candragupta as long as Cāṇakya is alive. The Nandas were like Kubera in wealth,^[2] Indra in power,^[3] but became losers in front of Cāṇakya’s anger. For this terrifying anger he was called the kuṭilamati-kauṭilya.^[4] Even Cāṇakya himself says that his tufted hair (śikhā) is a female serpent to the race of Nandas and at the same time a thick dark curling mass of smoke of the fire of his anger.^[5]

Cāṇakya is portrayed by Viśākhadatta as a minister and politician per excellence, full of self-confidence verging on even boastfulness,^[6] which is almost shivering, ever vigilant and quick that Kañcukī of Candragupta compared the splendour of Cāṇakya to that of the thousand rayed Sun.^[7]

Cāṇakya is depicted here as a store house of self-confidence. His confidence is raised here in to such a height that he believes in only his own intelligence and nothing else in this world. He thinks that his intelligence can even do such things that can never be done by hundreds of armies.^[8]

Thousands year before, when disregard to the Gods and fate could not be imagined even in the dreams, being a personality of that age Cāṇakya states to fate,^[9] during a mock quarrel in act III, when Candragupta attributes the destruction Moto as,—

manuṣya kurute tattu yanna śakyaṃ surasuraiḥ.

Cāṇakya does not like fake idealistic statements. He is realistic. Thus, his boastings are also realistic.

Therefore, Candragupta praises even the bragging of Cāṇakya thus—

phalena saṅvāditavyamasya vikatthiṃ.^[10]

Cāṇakya tries nothing even in his dream without the importance of the work in his life.–na prayojanamantarā cāṇakyaḥ svapne’pi ceṣṭate.^[11] He has keen intellect and sharp memory; and a quick grasp of situation, he has the capacity to turn almost everything to his advantage with the least effort. Cāṇakya devoted to his work in such a way that he eagerly waits for the completion of the same.^[12]

Being a man of clear thinking, Cāṇakya’s acts are one and all always backed up by sound reasoning; and this adds to the force of his agreements and remarks. He is a good conservationist and has succeeded in eliciting the required information from Candanadāsa in act.I. He also displays the qualities of outspokenness and showing respect to others. Even Rākṣasa, the main enemy of him, has high regard for his abilities as a minister and a politician.^[13] Rākṣasa always can be seen like a dowarf in front of the political intrigue of Cāṇakya. Not only Rākṣasa, but also Vakranāsa, a great politician and one of the ministers of Nandas becames puzzled when Cāṇakya spreads his net of crooked policy.^[14] This is the reason, though Cāṇakya praises the merits of Rākṣasa does not think him as a rival of equal status.^[15] The secret emissaries that requited by Cāṇakya don’t know even one another. Not only does that Candragupta, the king himself not get any information about the secret missions.^[16]

Cāṇakya would use any means for accomplishing his object by hook or by crook. That is why we find almost everybody calling him deridingly dūrātman and that is again why, Candanadāsa, the friend of Rākṣasa so much hates him and has very bitter words to say about him. He even goes to the extent that in the execution ground advices his son to stay in a cāṇakya rahita deśa and also calls Cāṇakya as a duṣṭa.^[17] But he has the quality of appreciating the merits of even his enemies. Rākṣasa’s merits attract Cāṇakya. That is why he praises Rākṣasa by calling him mahātmā.^[18]

Again in the first act when Candanadāsa refused to surrender the family of Rākṣasa in the hands of Cāṇakya, he fervently promises Candanadāsa and compares him with king Śibi of satyayuga.^[19]

Cāṇakya is however a firm master of his emotions to such an extent that he appears to be almost inhuman, a man without any emotions at all. This however, does not mean that he has absolutely no emotions. The fact is that he has all his emotions perfectly under his control as can be easily seen from the circumstance that almost all his remarks showing emotions are svagata or soliloquy.

It must however, be said to Cāṇakya’s that his aim is, at least so far as the Mudrārākṣasa in concerned, not selfish. Cāṇakya sees a high ideal as the aim of his work and is without personnel ambition except to the extent of repaying a humiliating insult with interest (his motive for destroying the Nandas). He serves his ideal for its own sake but not for the self-glorification; apparently he will be happy to retire from active politics when Rākṣasa agrees to become the minister of Candragupta. The course of policy followed by Cāṇakya is that of Crookedness, no doubt, but then he is driven to adopt such a course by the exceptional circumstances of the time. Not that, he does not know the sinfulness of his doings, but that he cannot help it. Thus the murders of Parvataka and Sarvārthasiddhi as also of the five allies of Malayaketu are political necessities. The unsuspecting Malayaketu is treacherously betrayed and made a captive, but when his end is accomplished, Cāṇakya restores him to his original possessions. The treated executions of Śakaṭadāsa and Candanadāsa are meant more as political expedients than facts to be accomplished. Beyond the few incidents mentioned above there is not a single case of homicide for which Cāṇakya is seen directly responsible. Thus we see that the immortality of the policy of Cāṇakya is greatly redeemed by his desire to avoid general bloodshed and the utter absence of selfishness.

Viśākhadatta has taken care to elevate Cāṇakya by depicting in a few strokes some aspects of his private life. Thus he is shown to be utterly disinterested, so much so that though commanding the highest respect from Candragupta as his preceptor and minister, he is living in an ordinary hut with almost no belonging of his own being described as follows by the chamberlain of Candragupta as he approaches his house:

“This piece of rock is for splitting cakes of cow dung, this is the shed for the sacrifice offered by the bays, the shelter, too, with firewood being dried inside, is seen with its walls decayed and the end of its thatch broken down.”^[20]

Cāṇakya is not only praised for his simplicity by others, he also praised for his policies intrigues. Rākṣasa pays homage to him and calling him mahātmā.

According to him—

“Cāṇakya is the mine of all śāstras, as the ocean is of jewels, with whose merits we are not sufficiently pleased, although jealous.”^[21]

Siddhārthaka appreciates his policies saying thus—

jayati jayanakāryaṃ yāvatkṛtvā ca sarvaṃ pratihataparapakṣā āryacāṇakya nītiḥ//^[22]

Bhāgurāyaṇa, an agent of Cāṇakya also stated about the manifold nature of the policy of worthy Cāṇakya thus—

“Sometimes its manifestation can be clearly discerned, sometimes it is deep, not being comprehended, now full in all its parts and now very stable, in accordance with the object to be gained; today its seed appears to be destroyed, tomorrow laden with an abundance of fruit–On, how varied in character, like destiny, is the strategy of the politician Cāṇakya.”^[23]

Therefore, the general impression that we get of Cāṇakya on reading the Mudrārākṣasa is that of a simple Brāhmaṇa, easily irascible by nature, a shrewd politician employing any means to achieve his aims, but disinterested and appreciative of real merit wherever it found. But for the relief afforded by his virtues like simplicity and appreciative nature, this mighty minister of Candragupta would have been perhaps highly detestable in spite of all his brilliance in politics, even as a Cobra with a jewel on his hood.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

kuragrahaḥ sa ketuścandraṃ sampūrṇamaṇḍalamidānīm | abhibhavitumicchatibalāt rakṣyat…Mudrārākṣasa, I. 6

[2]:

Ibid., III.27

[3]:

Ibid., IV. 11

[4]:

kuṭilamatiḥ sa eṣa yena krodhāgnau prasabhamadāhi nandavaṃśaḥ…|Ibid., I. 7

[5]:

Ibid., I. 9

[6]:

Ibid., III.27,

[7]:

Ibid., III. 17

[8]:

Ibid., I, 25

[9]:

dvaivamavidvāṃsaḥ pramānayanti| Ibid., p.254

[10]:

Mudrārākṣasa, p. 86

[11]:

Ibid., p.216

[12]:

kāryābhiniyoga evātmān vyākulayati| Mudrārākṣasa, p. 27

[13]:

Ibid., II, 19

[14]:

Ibid.

[15]:

kathaṃ spardhate mayā saha dūrātmā rākṣasaḥ| ……………..sādharmyaṃ madanukṛteḥ pradhānavairaṃ| Mudrārākṣasa, p.196

[16]:

Mudrārākṣasa See p.61

[17]:

Ibid., p.453

[18]:

Ibid., VII. 8 and also, sādhu amātya rākṣasa sādhu….sādhu śrotriya, sādhu, sādhu mantribṛhaspate sadhu, p.38

[19]:

Ibid., I. 23

[20]:

Ibid., III.15

[21]:

Ibid., VII. 7

[22]:

Ibid., VI. 1

[23]:

Ibid., V. 3