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Visha Kanya

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Also known as Urdu Support

The Vishakanya ( ) were young women reportedly used as assassins, often against powerful enemies, in Ancient India. Their blood and bodily fluids were purportedly poisonous to other humans, as was mentioned in the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BC).

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The Vishakanya ( ) were young women reportedly used as assassins, often against powerful enemies, in Ancient India. Their blood and bodily fluids were purportedly poisonous to other humans, as was mentioned in the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, Arthashastra, written by Chanakya, an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BC).

==Literature== In the Skanda Purana, a girl who is born when the sun is in the constellation Chitra or the moon in the fourteenth lunar day is stated to be fated to become a Vishakanya. Such a woman is described to cause death to her husband after being married to her after a period of six months, make the house she lives in to become devoid of wealth, and cause misery to her family.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Visha Kanya” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.