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Chanakya : as son of Chaṇak, was the cognomen of Vishnugupta. Chaṇak, the most renowned scholar of his time, esp. in the sciences of politics & economy, lived in Pātaliputra, capital of Magadha then ruled by the Nanda dynasty. He was thrown into a dungeon & tortured to death by the arrogant king for warning him against his despotic behaviour & his wife & son ostracised. Upon his mother’s death young Chāṇakya migrated to the Gurukūla in Takshashilā, capital of Gāndhāra & after his studies was appointed one of its educators. And in due course, he achieved his goal of overthrowing Dhanā Nanda then king of Magadha & replacing him with his best disciple Chandragupta Maurya. An authority on the Sanātanah Dharma & humanitarian statecraft, his Artha-shāstra, built on all knowledge compiled up to his time on artha (property, economics, material success), & written under the pen-name Kautilya (the pragmatic) gained renown as the most important treatise on imperial polity. One of his basic aphorisms says:

Āhāra nidrā bhaya maithūna-ścha| sāmānyaṃ étaḍ pashubhī narānām||

Dharmo-hi téshām vividho viśéśa| Dharmenhīnā pashubhī samānāh||