Western scholars declared India has no strategic culture. Ajit Doval — who almost never attends public events — showed up personally to launch the book that proves them wrong.
At this book launch of Indian Strategic Culture: The Mahabharatan and Kautilyan Way of War, Maj. Gen. G.D. Bakshi dismantles the George Tanham-Stephen Rosen claim that India lacks primordial strategic military culture. He identifies two distinct schools: the Mahabharatan Dharma Yudha (direct attrition warfare governed by moral law) and the Kautilyan Kuta Yudha (indirect, intelligence-driven strategic deception) — two traditions as sophisticated as anything Clausewitz or Sun Tzu produced, encoded in texts millennia older.
NSA Ajit Doval’s presence and remarks are the event’s centrepiece. He almost never speaks publicly — but he came for this book because he believes the subject matters strategically. His point: India’s fundamental challenge is converting a civilisation into a nationhood — and that requires a shared sense of enemy, shared historical memory, and shared vision of the future. The army achieves unit cohesion through all three; India as a civilisational state must build the same thing at scale.

About the Speakers:
Maj. Gen. G.D. Bakshi is a decorated combat veteran of Kargil and J&K, awarded the VSM and SM. A prolific author and scholar (MPhil, Ph.D.), he taught at top military institutions, served at DGMO during key operations, and held senior roles in defense think tanks. His latest book is Indian Strategic Culture: The Mahabharata and the Kautilyan Ways of War.

Shri Ajit Doval, India’s NSA since 2014 and former IB Director, is a legendary intelligence officer known for high-risk missions in Pakistan, Myanmar, and Kashmir. He was pivotal in India’s surgical strikes and national security strategy, earning the moniker “India’s James Bond.”

Shri Sushil Pandit, an exiled Kashmiri Pandit, is a social activist, commentator, and founder of Root-in-Kashmir, advocating for the rights and return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.