According to a Jain writer, Chanakya used to add small doses of poison in the food of Emperor Chandragupta without his knowledge to build his immunity against poisoning attempts by the enemies. Since the emperor was unaware of this fact, he once shared his food with his wife Durdhara who was pregnant at that time and was just a few days away from giving birth. The poison acts very quickly and Durdhara dies within a few seconds. Chanakya cut her stomach and extracted the baby out in order to save the life of the unborn.