Theories on Chanakya’s death

Chanakya is one of the well-known economists, royal advisor, jurist, teacher and a philosopher from ancient India. He was known to have advised many kings and made them wise. He was wise enough to know that he made a lot of enemies in his life trying to help his king and the Mauryan throne. He had enemies in his homeland and even from foreign nations.

It is said that Acharya Chanakya knew his death would cause many corrupted minds and hearts to overtake the Mauryan Empire and so he made sure that his death would come at the right time.

There were some ancient scriptures which gave a hint of the events surrounding Chanakya’s death. However, there was no concrete proof of how he died.

There are three theories surrounding his death. The first theory is that since Chanakya was the Chief Administrator of the Chandragupta Maurya, he also managed the king’s health. It is said that Chanakya initially started mixing small amounts of poison to make them immune to it.

However, one day the king offered his poison laden food to his pregnant wife. The queen died however, the baby was saved and grew up to be Bindusara. Chanakya told Bindusara how his mother died and he blamed Chanakya. Chanakya was guilt-ridden and donated all his wealth to the poor and died shortly thereafter.

A second theory is that Chanakya was killed in a conspiracy by Bindusara, his step-mother and her father (enemy of Mauryan Dynasty). Mahamatya Subandhu, one of Bindusara’s ministers was said to be interested in taking Chanakya’s place. He supposedly let the secret of the queen’s death. Then Chanakya was said to be stripped of his position and later killed by Mahamatya.

The third theory is that Chanakya was planning against Queen Helena (Bindusara’s step-mother) who wanted to kill Bindusara and reinstate her own biological son. However, Chanakya was betrayed by Mahamatya who was jealous of him.

Image Credit: Vijay Tiwari / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statues_Of_Rituals_During_Mauryan_Dynasty_At_Sanchi.jpg