Originally posted by PutijaChalhov
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<h1>Birth of Bindusara and Chanakya'sDeath</h1>
</div><p align="center">Bindusara
was the son of Chandragupta Maurya (founder of the Maurya Empire) and
Queen Durdhara. According to a Jain work Rajavalikatha his original name
was Simhasena. During his reign the Maurya Empire saw significant
expansion southwards.
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Statue of Bindusara
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<p align="center">There is a mystery over the birth of Bindusara. As the tale goes
after Chandragupta Maurya became king of Magadha after defeating Nandas,
his chief advisor was Chanakya. Now Chanakya feared that there would be
assassination plots hatched against Chandragupta by other power hungry
kings. To protect Chandragupta, Chanakya wanted to make him immune from
poisoning. He added small amounts of poison in Chandragupta's food
everyday so that he would get used to it. But Chandragupta was unaware
of the poison he consumed every day. One day while dining the Emperor
shared his food with Queen Durdhara. She was just seven days away from
delivery. The pregnant Queen who did not have poison as her staple diet
started collapsing with some shrieks. Chanakya was passing by and he
heard the screams. When he came inside the dining hall he found the
Queen collapsing. He understood the importance of saving the child
within her womb. So first of all he slit the Queen's head so that the
poison could not penetrate into her body and harm the child. Then he cut
open her belly and took out the baby prince. But it seemed that one
drop of poison had penetrated through and it touched the forehead of
baby Bindusara. This caused a blue mark on his forehead. Thus the prince
was saved.</p>
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Queen Durdhara was the mother of Bindusara
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<p align="center">Though many scholars denounce this as a tale but references of such
an event are found in many Jain works. It was a remarkable feat when we
consider its timeline i.e. 320 BC.</p>
<div align="center"><a href="https://annoyzview.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/chanakya.jpg">
Chanakya who knew a lot about Ayurveda helped in performing first birth by surgery
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<p align="center">As Bindusara reached a fitting age to ascend the throne, Chandragupta
in lieu of a famine took up a begging bowl and walked away to Deccan.
But Chanakya remained minister and advisor to Bindusara. This was not
liked by Bindusara's minister Subandhu. Subandhu revealed to Bindusara
that Chanakya had murdered the king's mother. Hearing this Bindusara was
enraged. Chanakya on the other hand gave all his possessions and wealth
to poor, orphans and widows. He sat on a dung and prepared to die from
fasting without any water or food. When the nurses revealed the real
story to Bindusara he apologised to Chanakya.</p>
<p align="cenater">Bindusara was angry with Subhandhu who mislead him. The king asked
him to seek forgiveness from Chanakya. Though Subandhu still hated
Chanakya but he agreed. When he visited Chanakya's fastinbg spot he
slipped a burning charcoal ember inside the heap of dung. With wind as
its aid the fire caught and killed the man who masterminded the Mauryan
Empire.</p>
Woah! Thats amazing. I was aware about Bindusar's birth but haven't read anything about Chanakya's death. Thanks for sharing this valuable info :)