Who was the teacher of Chandragupta maurya?

Concept

A ruler's teacher (guru/acharya) is the mentor who trained and guided them before and during their rise to power. For the Maurya Empire, the founding ruler's mentor is identified by the ancient tradition that links the empire's establishment to a single learned strategist who authored a famous treatise on statecraft.

Application

Chandragupta Maurya founded the Maurya Empire (c. 321 BCE) by overthrowing the Nanda dynasty. Tradition and historical sources credit his teacher and chief adviser as Chanakya — also known as Kautilya and Vishnugupta — who is regarded as the author of the Arthashastra, the classic Sanskrit treatise on politics and economics. Chanakya discovered and trained the young Chandragupta and engineered the strategy that brought him to the throne.

Contrast

• Ashoka the Great — a Mauryan emperor, but he was Chandragupta's grandson who ruled later; he was not anyone's teacher here.

• Skanda Gupta — a ruler of the Gupta dynasty, which arose roughly six centuries after the Mauryas; unrelated to Chandragupta Maurya.

• Vishnu Sharma — the scholar traditionally credited with composing the Panchatantra fables, not a teacher of Chandragupta Maurya.

Hence the teacher of Chandragupta Maurya was Chanakya.