Mahabharata: Indian Statecraft and Arjuna
Six Mahabharatas in Search of Modernity: Week Four
Welcome to week four of my introduction to the Mahabharata, Six Mahabharatas in Search of Modernity. This week I introduce you to the use of the Mahabharata in contemporary Indian statecraft, and the third of six main characters, Arjuna.
The Statecraft of the Mahabharata
The Mahabharata is more than an ancient epic in India today. It is a symbol of a renaissance of Indian civilizational traditions of statecraft. An assertive civilization state has freed the Mahabharata from colonial chains and rediscovered its application to modern government.
The way forward lies in having the conviction to bring the Mahabharata into the Indian mainstream – in literature, of course, but equally in statecraft, foreign policy, military studies, philosophy, economic management, administration and justice.
Gautam Chikermane, Reclaiming the Mahabharata for India’s 21st Century manifestation, Observer Research Foundation 2019
This reimagining of diplomacy outside Western traditions is personified by Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar. He has repeatedly India stood its ground, or followed his dharma as Krishna might have advised Arjuna, against Western coercion. In The India Way, he used the epic as a core narrative about politics, history, war, and the resolution of conflict that encapsulated Indian traditions of statecraft. He has since spoken of developing a project that would share with the wider world contemporary understandings of this “state-civilization”. Its stories, embedded political philosophy, ethics and strategic culture deeply influence “the average Indian mind.”
But most Western and many pro-BRICS commentators are ignorant of this tradition. Such ignorance would not be tolerated in commentary on Western traditions of political philosophy - ancient Greek thought (some of our classifications of political order derive from Aristotle’s Politics), or the ‘Thucydides Trap’, or myths of national liberation, or the Founding Father, or Machiavelli’s The Prince, or indeed The Bible. Nor would it be accepted in thinking about Chinese statecraft. People recognise the heritage of Sun Tzu, The Three Kingdoms, Confucius, Neo-Confucianism, Mao, and Deng Xiaoping.
This needs to be rectified precisely because a more multi-cultural appreciation is one sign of a multipolar world. But also because many of the predicaments that India and the world face currently have their analogy in what is really the greatest story ever told.”
Dr S. Jaishankar, The India Way
Jaishankar is not alone in making such a call. For example Gautam Chikermane, Vice-President of the Observer Research Foundation, a leading, liberal think tank, wrote in 2019:
In strategic studies, for instance, our policymakers need to study the 4,512 verses in the Rajadharma Parva (part of the 12th chapter, Shanti Parva). These verses must essential reading for policy professionals in the areas of military studies and international relations. In policy conversations, they need to be able to use and quote Ved Vyasa’s Mahabharata or Chanakya’s Arthashastra, at least half as well as they do Sun Tzu’s The Art of War or Machiavelli’s Prince.
Chikermane, Reclaiming the Mahabharata for India’s 21st Century manifestation
He has since developed this case further in India’s Grand Strategy: A Framework for the Future that Builds on Bharat’s Ancient Statecraft of Peace, Prosperity, and Planet (ORF, 2024)
In this week’s slow read I will Gautam Chikermane’s advice and introduce you to the core verses on statecraft from the Mahabharata. Please subscribe and read on for
my audio reading of a section of the Rajadharma Parva (part of the 12th chapter, Shanti Parva.
an introduction to the character of the doubting archer of the Gita, Arjuna.
the scholarly debate on decolonising the Mahabharata and Indian statecraft.
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