Kautilya’s Ideas for Diplomacy and its reflection in India’s Foreign Policy

Abstract

Kautilya (also known as Chanakya), was India’s political strategic thinker and philosopher of the 4th century B.C., during Chandragupta Maurya’s reign. While, Arthashastra received wider recognition across the world for his state-building theories, in terms of Kautilya’s contribution to the strategic thought in realpolitik, Kautilya’s work has long been neglected not only by Western scholars but even sometimes by the Indian intellectual community. India, for a long, was recognized as the land of spirituality with a lack of rationality, and the discovery of Arthashastra made those perceptions irrelevant. While, there are other factors such as technological developments with nuclear deterrence and factors of globalization in cross-border trade and commerce, India’s foreign policy outlook has considered the realm of international affairs based on Arthashastra, which will be deciphered in this paper. Stressing the notion of ‘state’ and a comparative analysis of Kautilya’s state with that of the Western scholars and the current interpretation of ‘state’, the article will delve deeper into the doctrine of elements of the state, and their role in dealing with foreign policy. Analyzing the concept of ‘Vijigishu’ or central kingdom propagates in Kautilya’s ‘Mandala theory, and what is ‘enemy’ in foreign relations, the article will try to understand how the classic scripture is still relevant in India’s foreign policy choices. Contextually, the article will put appropriate examples to establish the fact that Kautilya’s Arthashastra has significantly influenced the decision-making in Indian diplomacy.