The Political Ethics of Chanakya. Chanakya was an adviser to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupt, and was the chief architect of his rise to power. Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political treatise called the Arthasastra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya. Chanakya has been considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science. He was a master of the shrewd act of diplomacy. Chanakya was a teacher in Taksashila, an ancient centre of learning, and was responsible for the creation of Mauryan empire, the first of its kind on the Indian subcontinent.