But dethroning the Nanda king was not an easy task. The Nanda king had conquered several kingdoms and built a vast empire. He had a powerful army. His army consisted of two lake foot soldiers, twenty thousands horses, two thousand chariots and three thousand elephants.

Chanakya and Chandragupta had t contend with this mighty force.

Unfortunately, even about this great fig no historical details are available.

In the early stages they had to suffer defeat. Chandragupta began his fight in the middle of the kingdom. He was defeated. Then he changed his strategy.

There is a story about this.

A spy of Chandragupta was functioning in a village. He happened to be in a hut where a woman gave a chapati (wheat- cake) to her child. The boy ate the middle portion and threw away the edges.

"You eat the chapati in the fashion of Chandragupta waging his war," said the mother.

"How did Chandragupta wage the war?" the boy asked.

The spy now was all ears.

"You ate only the middle portion of the chapati and threw away the edges. Now Chandragupta wants to be king. Instead of beginning his attack from the borders of the kingdom and taking in the towns on the way, he has begun the fight in the central parts. His army is encircled and beaten into bits," the mother explained.

The words reached Chanakya through the spy. He was impressed, and changed the method of his attack.