Chanakya - Blog Posts
KAUTILYA v/s AAMATYA RAKSHAS
Kautilya, or Chanakya, was a professor at Takshashila University of ancient India who takes most of the credit for the formation of the Mauryan Empire. He is also rightly called the Kingmaker, since he picked Chandragupt off the road and with his cutting intellect, ruthless patriotism, and sheer acumen for diplomacy, overthrew the Nanda dynasty and established Chandragupt as king. The task wasn’t easy, however. While Kautilya could single-handedly out-smart the most formidable foes, the Nanda court had an extremely loyal minister: Rakshas. Equal to Chanakya in wit and shrewdness, he hatched several plans to kill Chandragupt, whom he saw as a usurper. This obviously resulted in him and Kautilya being at constant loggerheads. His ruthless attempts at Chandragupt’s life included trying to poison him, orchestrating an ‘accident’ where a giant door frame would fall on Chandragupt while he was alight his elephant, and sending a Vishkanya (poison-maiden) to him. Chanakya’s goal, however, wasn’t to eliminate AmatyaRakshas. On the contrary, seeing the staunch loyalty and ruthless brainpower he possessed, Chanakya wanted to convert him into a loyal minister in Chandragupt’s court, a feat in which he ultimately succeeded.
I love old doordarshan series, they are short, meaningful and definitely worth watching. Here are my top 3 favourites, in case you wanna binge watch them too🩷
1) Trishna
It's the Hindi adaptation of the classic book 'Pride & Prejudice'. The characters are portrayed accurately and it's a 13 episode series.
2) Kashish
This series highlights the slow burn romance portraying an aspiring actress as female lead and a successful director as male lead. The characters are written very well, I actually watched this before Trishna.
3) Chanakya
This series is directed by a renowned director Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi. This used to come in the evenings before Mahabharat during lockdown and dare I say, it was my favourite and still is. I suppose, it's the most accurate representation of Chanakya and the politics during the Nanda and Mauryan era. It's longer compared to the first two, but it'll certainly leave you with lots of useful insights and knowledge.
Do tell me your opinions if you've watched them or have other recommendations 🩷