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Arth Of War
#2
Here's the post that started it all.....Page 4, abovesaid thread in BRF

Sunil said
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Doctrinaire approaches to War on the grand scale are rare in India. The emphasis in India is usually on flexibility to the extent possible.

There are doctrinal aspects to the instruments of military craft - but these are not mentioned in open discussions of obvious reasons. This should explain the abundance of questions such as "So what is the Special Force Doctrine in India?" or "What exactly is India's nuclear doctrine?" or "How does India's doctrine dictate the use of tanks?"... etc...

It may be important to consider the context of Tanham's essays. Tanham may have been referring to a specific debate that existed between the political elite and the military elite in India on the exact role and purpose of military force in the context of statecraft. India (in the time that Tanham wrote his paper) was in a lot of trouble. The military was involved in COIN operations in Kashmir, Punjab and the NE. The source of these insurgencies was Pakistan. The military was pushing for a strike on Pakistan to enable a more ergonomic management of the terrorist groups. The politicians for their part could not come up with sufficiently predictable model for the costs of attacking Pakistan. This led to some difficult situations. Things were particularly difficult in the context of Sri Lanka, where the military was concerned about the adverse situation vis-a-vis the LTTE and the politicians could not pull together the support needed to give the Army a free hand in the affected areas.

An additional note on the Vedas (again mentioned in passing ONLY - not intended to start a discussion on the Vedas or related topics.). The Vedas are a very complicated and intricate system of information. Even in the theistic sphere there is considerable interpretation required to penetrate the Vedas. Most knowledge derived from the Vedas currently is based more on the various Vedic sutras, and commentaries (bhasya on the sutra) on the sutra. Most commentaries are actually more realistically points to initiate further debate. The process of commentary usually involves part speculation and part intuition. Both of these are shaped by the prevailing intellectual climate of the time. So to construct a "Vedic Theory of War" from scratch is a bit difficult even for the most experienced Vedic expert. It may be easier to construct a theory of War from the Arthashastra (i.e. Earthashatter... Smile ) but even that is difficult.

That having been said, what purpose would such an effort serve in the current (or our simulated) political climate? How would this be useful to the DCH? I mean even after the "Theory of War" is created, it would still require that the DCH CCS evolve it to fit the situation before them?...

I am not saying this to scotch the debate on this issue. I know full well that everyone likes to have a clear idea of why they are going to war. Today people (as for eons before) fondly wish that there was a Yudh Sutra , that summarized Vedic thinking on War, its causes and the moral purposes behind the use of force. However no such Yudh Sutra is known to exist. How does the DCH shape its thinking to war under such conditions?

I think you have asked a very interesting question. Could the proposed participants and others please weigh in on this issue?

Under what conditions today - would the declaration of War be considered acceptable? How should the conduct of war be effected?

It may be recalled that the Mahabharat speaks volumes on this issue, on the nature of a "Just War" and what happens when the war departs from this paradigm.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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