Chanakya

Anecdotes are sometimes interesting and also educative. The other day while driving to college, I heard an anecdote on a local FM channel. The anecdote may be over two thousand years old. The RJ who narrated the anecdote, was unfortunately ignorant about the characters or the historical dates pertaining to these characters. However I do appreciate the anecdote and to some extent the confidence with which RJ broadcasted the same. Her ignorance may have been inherited or she might not have checked the details. It is certainly unpardonable to commit such errors in media. One must cross check with the dates and the events, but the anecdote made me forget about these imprudence.

The anecdote that I heard and liked may be true but has either wrong characters or wrong dates. The anecdote is about Chanakya. The RJ mentioned that the great Chinese scholar and Buddhist monk Hsuan Tsang (var. Hiuen Tsiang) while on his visit to India, requested an audience with Chanakya. This doesn’t seem to be possible as Chanakya lived during c. 370–283 BC, whereas Hsuan Tsang’s era was c. 602 – 664 AD. So there is no way the two could have ever met. Anyway that is not what matters at this stage. It’s the story that was more important and that appealed to me. 

The anecdote says that one evening the visitor desired audience with Chanakya. He came to Chanakya’s residence. Chanakya was busy with some official paperwork. There were two oil lamps by his side in the chamber. Only one of the oil lamps was glowing providing adequate light. Chanakya gestured the visitor to take a seat. The visitor made himself comfortable and waited for a while till Chanakya completed his work. The visitor was about to initiate a dialogue, when Chanakya requested him to wait for a moment. Chanakya got up from his seat, extinguished the oil lamp that was glowing and lighted another one. The visitor got confused with Chanakya’s action. He wondered what could be the reason to put off one lamp and light another one. He could not resist asking the reason to Chankya. Chanakya smiled and explained that the oil for the lamp that was glowing earlier was provided by the King and he used that for official work. As the visitor was not on official visit, Chanakya refrained from using the lamp that was fuelled by the exchequer. For his personal work it was prudent for him to light another lamp that used the oil purchased by him. He would never like to use government funds for his personal use. The visitor was spellbound and so was I after listening to this anecdote.

I pulled my car and stopped for a while. I thought of all the politicians, civil servants and all those who use the public funds or employer’s money for personal gains or favours. Be it a using office phone to make a personal call or to grab a flat in Adarsha or similar fraud. Both are same, though magnitude differs. Can we not learn something from Chanakya? I am sure it would be a  different world if these values are practiced now. In this world I may sound stupid but CAN WE DO THAT?