15 Great Thoughts By Chanakya and Brief History of Chanakya Maurya - Father of Political Science in India

One of the greatest figures of wisdom and knowledge in the Indian history is Chanakya. He is estimated to have lived from 350 - 283 B.C. Chanakya is touted as the "Pioneer Economist of India". Chanakya was the adviser and Prime Minister of Emperor Chandragupta. Chanakya was a professor at the University of Takshila (located in present day Pakistan) and was an expert in commerce, warfare, economics, etc. His famous works include Chanakya Neeti, Arthashastra and Neetishastra. Read this biography of Kautilya that covers his interesting life history.

Chanakya is also known by the name of Kautilya and Vishnugupta as is mentioned in his text. His famous work called Arthashastra is a classic example of statecraft and politics and is read in Europe even today. It basically consists of the principles of politics and how the state works. An able ruler has to be a ruthless leader to make sure that the state works smoothly and efficiently. The legends associated with Chanakya are very interesting and provide a testimony of his greatness.

Legends:

• When Chanakya was born he had a full set of teeth, which is a sign that he would become a king or an emperor. But since he was born in a Brahmin family, it was considered inappropriate. Thus, his teeth were broken and it was predicted that he would make another person a king and rule through him.
• Even as a child, Chanakya had the qualities of a born leader. His level of knowledge was beyond children of his age. 
• Chanakya was thrown out of the court of King Nanda as he was a blunt man and spoke his mind clearly. Chanakya swore he would take revenge. 
• Chanakya comes across Chandragupta as a young child. Even at that age, he was a born leader and showed the qualities of an able Emperor. He was the guiding force behind Chandragupta and the vital person who made him an able Emperor. 
• Chanakya adds poison in little amounts daily in Chandragupta's food in order to make him immune to poison, lest some enemy tries to poison him. 
• However Chandragupta was unaware about this and once gave a little food to his wife who was in the ninth month of pregnancy. She didn't survive but Chanakya cut open her belly and took out the baby. 
• This baby grew up to become an able emperor named Bindusara. He had a minister named Subandhu who did not like Chanakya. He told Bindusara that Chanakya had killed his mother. 
• Without assessing facts, Bindusara confronted Chanakya. On knowing the whole story, he felt ashamed at his hasty actions and begged for forgiveness. He asked Subandhu to go and apologize and make Chanakya come back. 
• Subandhu was very cunning and on the pretext of going to apologize to Chanakya, he killed him. Thus, ended the life of a great person like Chanakya just because of political rivalry.

15 Great Thoughts By Chanakya

1) “Learn from the mistakes of others… you can’t live long enough to make them all yourselves!!”

2)”A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first.”

3)”Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous.”

4)”There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth.”

5)” Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.”

6)”As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.”

7)”The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.”

8)”Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.”

9)”The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.”

10)”God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.”

11) “A man is great by deeds, not by birth.”

12) “Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.”

13) “Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends.”

14) “Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.”

15) “Education is the Best Friend. An Educated Person is Respected Everywhere. Education beats the Beauty and the Youth.”


What is Chanakya Neeti

Chanakya Neeti is a collection of Chanakya's thoughts in "Dos and Don'ts" format which one can apply in the conduct of one's daily life, follow a set of simple rules enunciated in the couplets and stud one's mindset with the gems of his philosophy and wisdom. This page presents couplets or quatrains in English followed by a faithful and lucid commentry explaining the importance of the message contained therein in the present day context.

1. A wicked wife, a false friend, a saucy servant and living in a house with a serpent सर्प in it are nothing but death.

2. Do not inhabit a country where you are not respected, cannot earn your livelihood, have no friends, or cannot acquire knowledge.

3. Do not stay for a single day where there are not these five persons: a wealthy man, a brahmin well versed in Vedic lore, a king, a river and a physician.

4. Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.

5. Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts पशु‌ with claws नाखून or horns , women, and members of a royal family.

6. Separation from the wife, disgrace from one’s own people, an enemy saved in battle, service to a wicked king, poverty गरीबी, and a mismanaged assembly: these six kinds of evils, if afflicting a person, burn him even without fire.

7. Trees on a riverbank, a woman in another man’s house, and kings without counsellors go without doubt to swift destruction.

8. Friendship between equals flourishes, service under a king is respectable, it is good to be business-minded in public dealings, and a handsome lady is safe in her own home.


9. Of a rascal दुर्जन and a serpent सर्प, the serpent is the better of the two, for he strikes only at the time he is destined to kill, while the former at every step.

10. Give up a member to save a family, a family to save a village, a village to save a country, and the country to save yourself.

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Unlocking the Mysteries: The Great Giza Pyramid and Secrets of Egypt's Mummies

Introduction
Pharaohs, pyramids, the Sphinx, the Luxor and vast deserts of immense beauty—all this and more from one of the world’s most ancient civilizations, Egypt. There is enough here to lure anyone with an intrepid heart and a soul full of wonder for the mysteries of humankind. But the ancient enigma is not all there is to Egypt.

With the second-largest economy in the Arab world, Egypt is not only a financially strong contender in the region, its long-standing history of relations with the West also make it a social and cultural leader in the Middle East. Egypt also plays a key role in efforts to resolve the Middle East conflict. However, high unemployment and low standards of living as well as consistent terrorist attacks are some of the battles that Egypt is fighting on home ground.

The capital of Egypt is Cairo, which is the most populous metropolitan area in Africa. The city is the hub of education and educational services not only for Egypt but also for the Arab and African world. It is also the country’s cultural and commercial centre.

History
The world’s oldest civilization rose on the banks of the Nile around 5000 years ago when the first dynasty of pharaohs came to power under Narmer. The first pyramid was built in the 27th century BC and the 4th dynasty was the most powerful when Khufu, Khafre and Mycerinus built the Pyramids of Giza. Between 51 and 48 BC, Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra VIII. The Roman Empire turned their sights on Egypt and there were continual skirmishes. Following the defeat of their naval forces at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, after which Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.

When the empire fell, Nubians, North Africans and Persians invaded but Egypt remained relatively stable until AD 640 when the Arabs arrived, bringing Islam. Egypt fell to the Turks in 1517 and was later invaded by both the British and the French at different points in time.

Egypt aligned itself with the Allies in WWI and afterwards, the Wafd national political party was formed. The Arab League was founded after WWII by seven Arab countries, including Egypt, but the war had left Egypt in a shambles. In 1952, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser led a group of military officers and pulled off a coup. The British and French invaded but the United Nations-deployed peacekeepers insisted that the invaders should leave.

President Hosni Mubarak was elected to serve his fifth term as president in Egypt's first contested presidential race in 2005. Periodic attacks on tourists resumed in Sinai in 2005 and 2006 but are generally assumed to be one-off events rather than a sustained terrorist campaign.

The Culture of Egypt
Egypt is one of the most ancient civilizations known to human beings. Besides the Pharaonic era, at different points in time, Egypt has been influenced by Hellenism, Christianity, Arabic and Islamic cultures as well as modern, Western culture. What has emerged as a result is something unique, novel and altogether fascinating. Ancient Egyptian art and architecture capture the imagination of scholars and tourists even today. And no world traveller can consider his voyages complete without seeing the Pyramids.

The Ancient Egyptian language, which is a separate branch in the family of Afro-Asiatic languages, was among the first written languages. Hieroglyphic inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of papyrus are evidence of the richness of this ancient language and continue to enthral linguists and language enthusiasts all over the world. Ancient Egyptian literature dates back to the third millennium BC. But it was only during the Greco-Roman period (332 BC-AD 639) that Egyptian literature started being translated into other languages. The Rosetta Stone was also found at this time and it unlocked the mysteries of Egyptian writing.

Egyptian novelists and poets are bold and experiment with modern styles of Arabic literature. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature and his Cairo Trilogy is a deep and haunting insight into the rhythms of daily life in Egypt. Other prominent Egyptian writers include Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her feminist works and activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also writes about women. Vernacular poetry is perhaps the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians, represented most significantly by Bayram al-Tunisi, Ahmed Fuad Nigm (Fagumi) and Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous Egyptian, Arabic, African and Western influences with a strong tradition of percussion and vocal music. Cairo is known as the "Hollywood of the Middle East" and the annual Cairo International Film Festival is renowned.

The Climate in Egypt
Egypt's climate is hot and dry most of the year. From December to February, average daily temperatures are around 20°C (68°F) on the Mediterranean coast and 26°C (80°F) in Aswan. Maximum temperatures get to 31°C (88°F) and 50°C (122°F) respectively. Winter nights can drop to 8°C. Alexandria receives the most rain, with 19cm (7.5in) each year. Between March and April, the khamsin blows in from the Western Desert at up to 150kmph (93mph).

Interesting locations in Egypt
The Arab Republic of Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. The northern coast borders the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern coast borders the Red Sea.

The capital city, Cairo, is Egypt’s hub in many ways. It is also the center for the government offices governing the Egyptian educational system, and has the largest number of educational schools, and higher learning institutes among other cities and governorates of Egypt.

Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and its largest seaport. A coastal city, it is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, and is an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.

The Government in Egypt
Egypt is a democratic republic. The Egyptian Constitution provides for a strong executive. Authority is vested in an elected president who can appoint one or more vice presidents, a prime minister, and a cabinet. Egypt's legislative body, the People's Assembly, has 454 members, of whom 444 are popularly elected and 10 are appointed by the president. The constitution reserves 50% of the assembly seats for "workers and peasants."

There also is a 264-member Shura (consultative) Council, in which 88 members are appointed and 174 elected for 6-year terms. Below the national level, authority is exercised by and through governors and mayors appointed by the central government and by popularly elected local councils.

Power is concentrated in the hands of the President and the National Democratic Party majority in the People's Assembly and those institutions dominate the political system.

Muhammad Hosni Mubarak is the Prime Minister of Egypt and its longest-serving ruler since Muhammad Ali. He is also one of the longest-serving leaders in the Arab world.

The Economy of Egypt
Egypt is bisected by the highly fertile Nile Valley, where most economic activity takes place. In the last 30 years, the government has reformed the highly centralized economy and in 2005, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif reduced personal and corporate tax rates, reduced energy subsidies, and privatized several enterprises. The stock market boomed, and GDP grew about 5% per year in 2005-06.

Despite these achievements, the government has failed to raise living standards for the average Egyptian and has had to continue providing subsidies for basic necessities. Twenty per cent of the population remains below the poverty line. Egypt still exhibits extreme differences between rich and poor and is still considered a poor country. However, a growing number of the inhabitants can be considered as middle-class or rich.

Foreign direct investment remains low but Egypt's economic spectrum has diversity, including involvement with agriculture, textiles and some industry. Some export sectors such as natural gas have bright prospects.

Currency of Egypt
The currency of Egypt is the Egyptian Pound.

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