Tiruvalluvar’s Natpu, Pakhai and Pazhaimai and India’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
Since its formal iteration by Prime Minister Modi at the Shangri-la dialogue in 2018, India’s Indo-Pacific policy has undergone transformative changes. Almost six years down the road, today, it is not only seen as an ambitious outreach campaign but also a tool for India’s strategic recalibration with Indo-Pacific countries. Navigating systemic and strategic constraints, a rising power India has made good attempts in both making friends and alliance building, as well as in managing intense rivalries with China and Pakistan. From a Valluvarian perspective, adeptness at balancing the complexities of super power competition and regional conflicts, can be seen as the essence of India’s Indo-Pacific gambit.
With the Tirukkural gaining prominence as more than just a didactic text, its unique value in offering insights on statecraft and diplomacy becomes evident, particularly in the realm of alliances and international relations. Within Book Two on Porutpaal (polity/wealth), numerous adhigarams (chapters) and kurals (couplets) outline the characteristics of a quintessential alliance, enabling conditions for building such alliances, and what defines a rival. In the modern context, the Kural’s explanatory power in International Relations (IR) and prescriptive power in foreign policy demonstrate its perpetual utility and ‘applied’ merit in the study of international politics.
A Kuralist perspective of India’s Indo-Pacific strategy would concentrate on the strategic relationships cultivated in the region. One of India’s pivotal strategic arrangements in the Indo-Pacific is the Quad. Revitalized in 2017, the Quad comprises Australia, Japan, and the US, in addition to India, and is seen as an informal minilateral grouping of
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