He came upon the boy Chandragupta, of royal line but fostered by a cowherd, playing with his companions on the village grounds. The boy was acting the role of a king, dispensing justice and giving orders to his ‘ministers’. On the ascetic beseeching him for alms, the ‘king’ grandly gave away a herd of someone else’s cows! Kautilya was so impressed with the boy’s leadership qualities that he bought the boy then and there for a thousand panas, took him to Taxila and gave him an education fit for a future king.
