In plain words
She had a grandson. The custom then was that when any guest came, he should sit with the household and eat with them. To tell the one who has come to eat alone is no honour. The household too must sit down. The inner meaning is that the same food is served to both, the household and the outsider. That is Dharma. What do people do now? If some relatives come, they make something special for them alone. The household eats any old thing. This is quite against the Dharma-śāstra of those days. Both must eat alike. The old woman made dosas piping hot. She brought two and put one each before the two of them. What did the grandson do? He kept breaking the dosas in the middle and eating them. He began the second dosa again from the middle. Without her meaning it, it came out of her mouth. She said, "What is this, boy, you are eating like Candragupta's rule!" He watched. What connection is there between Candragupta's rule and this boy eating a dosa? When she came to serve another dosa, he asked her humbly. "Grandmother! Is there a connection between Candragupta's rule and this lad eating a dosa?" he said. "Do you know why Candragupta was defeated?" the old woman asked. He was defeated only because, instead of placing his army all round the kingdom and guarding it, he kept his army at his centre alone and guarded that. He must keep protecting the kingdom on every side; if he keeps his soldiers only in the capital, how will he win? They all got in. They defeated Candragupta. In just the same way my grandson is eating the dosa from the middle. He is not trying to eat what lies all round. He is neglecting it. From a single dosa Cāṇakya grasped a great deal of meaning. Such was Cāṇakya's intelligence. He was Kauṭilya too. He was one who kept recognising well, even in small matters, what is right and what is wrong, what is Satya and what is Asatya, what is to be enjoyed and what is to be given up. Going about the whole kingdom as a spy in this way, he found out everything that lay behind this defeat of Candragupta. He made all the arrangements that it called for. He set his heart on making Candragupta king by whatever means. In the end his resolve was fulfilled, and he made Candragupta king.
From then on, how should one use this Artha-śāstra? Whatever one produces, crops or goods, one must put half by for the future.