The Truth of Kautilya’s Relevance Today: Critically Assessing Contemporary India’s Neighborhood Policy

The significance of Kautilya in India’s foreign policy has been highly reiterated. This non-western political thought has been highly emphasized after the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India. The ‘Raja Mandala’ theory, which describes the immediate neighbor as an enemy, has been focused on explaining the geopolitical situation for India. However, it is essential to understand that India’s neighborhood is not only filled with foes but also friends. Thus, by analyzing the genesis of India’s neighborhood policy in contemporary times and its impact on the neighboring countries in South Asia, the study puts the idea of the Raja Mandala to test. Nevertheless, the study concludes that the implication of Kautiliyan ideas has led to the securitization of neighborhood and negatively impacted the South Asian neighbors. The study believes that the Kautiliyan idea is Machiavellian; thus, the theoretical or practical application is ambiguous and ambivalent.