By Shibashis ChatterjeeIndia’s current foreign policy is passing through an intensified global flux characterised by great-power competition, regional uncertainty, and revived dialogues about national identity and civilisational mission. Analogous rivalries that have held sway until now are not for lack of available solutions, but rather a matter of political pride that handicaps the imagination. A foreign policy based on the cult of personality or blind nationalism threatens to confuse clapping hands for consent. Summoning the epic’s wisdom responsibly is not to posit a Hindu exception, but to reach for a tradition of self-restraint, reflexivity, and ethical anxiety about power. From the standpoint of modern Indian foreign policy, the Hindu texts do not appear as texts of domination but as profound warnings against the lure of empty hubris and pride.

Source: The Hindu January 14, 2026 05:49 UTC