evidence: Chanakya: India's Truly Radical Machiavelli Max Weber once wrote that compared to Chanakya's the Arthashastra, "Machiavelli’s The Prince is harmless." [...] Although the Arthashastra is ostensibly authored by Kautilya ("crooked"), most scholars agree that Kautilya was a pen name of the ancient Indian minister Chanakya. Chanakya was the minister to Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan Empire, which emerged in an environment resembling a Westphalian Europe of many states that encompassed most of present day South Asia. In his role as minister, Chanakya was said to have played a leading role in assembling and administering this large empire. In the Arthashastra, he compiles his observations of statecraft based on this experience.