Cāṇakya (Chanakya) was adviser to the first Mauryan emperor Candragupta, and architect of his rise to power.

Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the proto-Machiavellian political treatise Arthaśāstra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Cāṇakya.

Identity

He is generally called Chanakya but, in his capacity as author of the Arthaśāstra, is generally referred to as Kauṭilya.

The Arthaśāstra identifies its author by the name Kauṭilya, except for one verse which refers to him by the name Viṣṇugupta.

K.C. Ojha puts forward the view that the traditional identification of Viṣṇugupta with Kauṭilya was caused by a confusion of editor and originator and suggests that Viṣṇugupta is in fact a redactor of the original work of Kauṭilya.

Thomas Burrow goes even further and says that Cāṇakya and Kauṭilya are actually two different people.