Chanakya was certainly a shining light of un-orthodoxy in his time.
Contrary to how a 'typical' shastra would begins - that is with prayers to lord Ganesha or Saraswati - he begins arthashastra with 'Om namah shukabrihaspatibhyAm' - prayers to Shukra, the Guru of asura-s and brihaspati, the Guru of sura-s.
As Husky pointed about his thoughts on women, likewise, he has in a very strong voice set the four varna-s on the same horizonal level of heirarchy. He criticised and condemned the thought of considerig sudras as an-Arya-s or untouchables. a true liberal of his time, though he is not a very strong supporter of "secularism". He advocates the state to be actively involved to make sure 'pAshanda-s' / 'pAkhanDa-s' are not followed in name of religion. He even criticices nirgranthaka-s (a stream of Jains) in arthashastra itself. Certainly affected by Bauddha thought too, but inclines to Vedic thoughts.
Again, as a mark of clear un-orthodoxy, he considers dharma-artha-kama as essential to life (while being silent on moksha, though he does not negate it)
Arthashastra is also not his original writing. He himself says in it, that he is merely collecting, and further improving upon the treatise he had received from his ancestors and different masters of politics and economics. So all the liberal thoughts mentioned in it, might have existed even before him.
He describes the geography of Bharatvarsh, and neighbourood in detail. It is said he compiled the grandha to its entirety, while he was traveling to South India - somewhere on the shores.
Today there are found a few different versions of arthashastra. Morar Ji Desai, when Janata Govt came, encouraged Dr Raghunath Singh, a diplomat, and Sanskrit scholar, to compile an authentic version of Arthashastra. Dr Raghunath Singh surveyed various manuscripts in possession of various kingdoms at that time, consulted many scholars, traveled to countries like Greece, Thailand and Burma, and after a few years of research eventualy produced a 2-volume 'kautilIyam arthashAstram' in Hindi, and it is our time's authentic indegenous and thoroughly researched work on Arthashastra.
And yes, he was of kuTal gotra - so he was known as kauTalya, though many version and inscriptions refer to him as kauT<b>i</b>lya - which would mean 'extremely cunning' or proponent of kuTa-niti/kuTila-niti. vishnugupta was his real (given) name, while chanakya came because his father's name was chanak.
Contrary to how a 'typical' shastra would begins - that is with prayers to lord Ganesha or Saraswati - he begins arthashastra with 'Om namah shukabrihaspatibhyAm' - prayers to Shukra, the Guru of asura-s and brihaspati, the Guru of sura-s.
As Husky pointed about his thoughts on women, likewise, he has in a very strong voice set the four varna-s on the same horizonal level of heirarchy. He criticised and condemned the thought of considerig sudras as an-Arya-s or untouchables. a true liberal of his time, though he is not a very strong supporter of "secularism". He advocates the state to be actively involved to make sure 'pAshanda-s' / 'pAkhanDa-s' are not followed in name of religion. He even criticices nirgranthaka-s (a stream of Jains) in arthashastra itself. Certainly affected by Bauddha thought too, but inclines to Vedic thoughts.
Again, as a mark of clear un-orthodoxy, he considers dharma-artha-kama as essential to life (while being silent on moksha, though he does not negate it)
Arthashastra is also not his original writing. He himself says in it, that he is merely collecting, and further improving upon the treatise he had received from his ancestors and different masters of politics and economics. So all the liberal thoughts mentioned in it, might have existed even before him.
He describes the geography of Bharatvarsh, and neighbourood in detail. It is said he compiled the grandha to its entirety, while he was traveling to South India - somewhere on the shores.
Today there are found a few different versions of arthashastra. Morar Ji Desai, when Janata Govt came, encouraged Dr Raghunath Singh, a diplomat, and Sanskrit scholar, to compile an authentic version of Arthashastra. Dr Raghunath Singh surveyed various manuscripts in possession of various kingdoms at that time, consulted many scholars, traveled to countries like Greece, Thailand and Burma, and after a few years of research eventualy produced a 2-volume 'kautilIyam arthashAstram' in Hindi, and it is our time's authentic indegenous and thoroughly researched work on Arthashastra.
And yes, he was of kuTal gotra - so he was known as kauTalya, though many version and inscriptions refer to him as kauT<b>i</b>lya - which would mean 'extremely cunning' or proponent of kuTa-niti/kuTila-niti. vishnugupta was his real (given) name, while chanakya came because his father's name was chanak.