1. Why were King Dhana Nanda’s soldiers pursuing Chanakya? What did Chanakya do to avoid them?
Ans: King Dhana Nanda’s soldiers were pursuing Chanakya because he had vowed to take revenge on King Dhana Nanda.
King Dhana Nanda’s soldiers were not in Chanakya’s pursuit and he had to hide in villages and remote hamlets, away from the main road. Chanakya avoided the main road that ran from Pataliputra to Takshashila and instead took the hidden secret paths both known to wandering ascetics and nomads.
2. What did Chanakya think of as he travelled away from Magadha?
Ans: Chanakya had not let his mind wallow in thoughts of self-pity and revenge. Instead, Chanakya let his mind to planning and thinking. Overthrowing the Nandas was not good enough. The king, who would be the ruler of Magadha, had to be a far better king in every way. A king not merely by position or by birth, but a king, whose subjects loved him and whose enemies had the highest regard for him.
Chanakya thought all these things while he travelled away from Magadha.
6. What did the young boy give Chanakya when he approached him as a poor, learned man?
Ans: When Chanakya approached the young boy as a poor, learned man, the boy returned his gaze evenly. After the boy indicated the fields that stretched all around them, the boy told Chanakya that all the cattle that graze on this field, the ones near and the near ones farther away belonged to him. Whatever the total number of these all would be sufficient to keep his family happy for more than one generation but several.
B. Read these lines and answer the question with reference to the context.
1. Such a king, Chanakya knew, was not easily found. He had to be created.
A. What a kind of king was Chanakya looking for?
Ans: These lines have been taken from the story ‘Chanakya Finds His King’ written by Anu Anuradha Kumar.
Chanakya was looking for a king who was not merely a king by position or by birth, but a king whose subjects loved him and whose enemies had the highest regard for him.
B. Why was Chanakya looking for a king?
Ans. Chanakya was looking for a king because King Dhana Nanda was a cruel, unjust ruler who misruled Magadha and insulted learned scholars like Chanakya.
C. Did Chanakya find the kind of a king he wanted? When and where did he find such a king?
Ans. Yes, Chanakya found him. He discovered the young boy while travelling through a village outside Pataliputra, where he spotted the boy playing the role of a king in a mock court-room game.
