This political drama is set just after Alexander's invasion of India (c. 325 BCE) when the first Emperor Chandra-gupta seized the throne and founded the Maurya dynasty.
The exemplary Rakshasa is the loyal exiled chief minister of the deposed dynasty. But his opponent, far from being the villain of the piece, is a kind of superhero - the inhumanly competent
ascetic Kautilya, to whom is ascribed India's famous handbook for rulers, a precursor to Machiavelli's. Kautilya struggles not to destroy Rakshasa but to win him over to be his successor as
Chandra-gupta's chief minister, so that Kautilya himself can retire from politics.
The final, benedictory stanza of the play may refer to Emperor Chandra-gupta II (reigned c. 376-415 BC). Other than this clue to the time during which the author lived, all we know about him is
that he came from a princely family, and would have had political experience.
