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Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Portrait of Chanakya
Chanakya

c. 375 BCE – c. 283 BCE

Indian

Born Taxila

Teacher, kingmaker, and author of the Arthashastra, the coldest clear-eyed manual of power before Machiavelli.

Portrait of Kapila
Kapila

c. 6th century BCE

Indian

The sage credited with Samkhya, the oldest of India's systems, which split reality into spirit and matter.

Connection

Kapila reasoning as a science of state Chanakya — The Arthashastra opens by naming anvikshiki, the disciplines of reasoning with Samkhya among them, as one of the four sciences a ruler must master, treating philosophy as an instrument of government rather than contemplation.

Ideas

LegalismJustice
BeingNature

Words

“The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind, but the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.”

— Chanakya

“From the entanglement of spirit with matter the world arises; from seeing them apart, the soul is freed.”

— Kapila

Key Moments

c. 375 BCE

Born near Taxila

c. 350 BCE

Teacher at Taxila

c. 321 BCE

The Rise of the Mauryas

c. 315 BCE

The Arthashastra

c. 6th century BCE

The Sage of Samkhya

c. 6th century BCE

The Founding of Samkhya

c. 590 BCE

Spirit and Matter

c. 580 BCE

Liberation Through Discrimination

Works

The Arthashastra

The Samkhya Sutras

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Volume I · Ancient Greece · 624-262 BCE