The mythology in Jaishankar's diplomacy

Brut India

When S Jaishankar calls Lord Krishna and Hanuman the greatest diplomats...

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00:00The biggest diplomat was Shri Krishna and Hanumanji.

00:04Hanumanji had so much intelligence with him and he had gone ahead of the mission.

00:10He was an all-purpose, multi-purpose diplomat.

00:21There is a curiosity.

00:23Why India way and why not Indian way?

00:27Is there any specific thinking behind this?

00:30Two, there is a lot of talk about strategic culture.

00:36You have mentioned Krishna and Krishna's choice.

00:42But in our country, Krishna is not the only one.

00:45Vishnu, Chanakya, Padmasambhava, Shiva.

00:48This is a rare thing that a sub-Indian serving foreign service for 5 decades and delivering teaching in Hindi.

00:56I grew up in Delhi.

01:27You tell me, who was the biggest diplomat in the world?

01:33I can give you a written answer that he will be a western.

01:38He will say, Metternich is the biggest diplomat in the world.

01:40If I ask him, what is the best book on diplomacy?

01:48He will say, it is Machiavelli, Harold Nicholson, Ernest Sartre.

01:54So, this was the reason for my writing.

01:59I want to make my own people understand.

02:03Look at home.

02:06If you ask me, after so much study, who do you think was the biggest diplomat in the world?

02:18I will say, the biggest diplomat was Shri Krishna and Hanuman Ji.

02:26I am giving you a very serious answer.

02:29If you look at them from the perspective of diplomacy,

02:33what was their situation, what mission was given to them,

02:37how they handled it.

02:40Hanuman Ji had so much intelligence with him.

02:45He had gone ahead of the mission.

02:47He had contacted Sita.

02:50He took the news of the whole of Lanka.

02:52He burnt the whole of Lanka.

02:54How was he a diplomat?

02:56He was a multipurpose diplomat.

03:00There were 10 big strategic concepts, which were international relations.

03:04I can give you an equivalent of every concept in Mahabharata.

03:09If you say, today we have a multipolar world.

03:13Even at that time, what was happening in the Kurukshetra field,

03:18it was a multipolar India.

03:20In which there were different states.

03:22Everyone was told, you are with them, you are with me.

03:25One or two non-aligns came out in between.

03:28Like Balram or Rukma.

03:31Now we say, it is a globalized world.

03:34It is interdependent.

03:36It is constrained.

03:39What was Arjun's dilemma?

03:41It was constrained.

03:43That he was interdependent.

03:45Emotionally interdependent.

03:47How can I fight against my relatives?

03:50It was not physical, material interdependence.

03:54It was emotional interdependence.

03:57Sometimes we say, Pakistan did this and that.

04:02Let's show strategic patience.

04:05The best example of strategic patience is Krishna Bhagwan.

04:10The way he handled Shishupal.

04:13He forgave him a hundred times.

04:16A hundred times.

04:17After that, you know what he did.

04:20These days, this term has come, rules based order.

04:25There is a limit.

04:28In politics, there are some rules and some laws.

04:38What is the story of Mahabharata?

04:41Those who violate the rules, like Karna or Duryodhana.

04:47In their last moments, they remember the rules.

04:54They say, don't do this.

04:56Because it is according to the rules.

04:58They had not followed the same rules all their lives.

05:02Today, sometimes we debate among ourselves,

05:06which country is bigger than us.

05:10Remember this.

05:12The proportion of Pandavas and Kauravas was 7 to 11.

05:18They had a small army.

05:21They had a small army, but they had a big mentality.

05:24They had a lot of discipline, creativity, intelligence,

05:28and Shri Krishna was with them.

05:30Sometimes, we talk about reputational cost.

05:34The value of the person you trust,

05:44the value of the person you trust,

05:47whether it is a party, a person, or a country,

05:51the value of reputation is very high.

05:54The reputation of the Pandavas was better than that of the Kauravas.

06:00There was a lot of difference in reputation.

06:04Sometimes, for a larger good, people have to make tactical adjustments.

06:16There are many examples of this.

06:19What Yudhishthira said about Ashwathama.

06:21Strategic deception.

06:23When Lord Krishna created an illusion of Surya,

06:31Jayadrath thought he was saved.

06:33We take this word so easily.

06:37Trojan horse.

06:39Achilles heel.

06:41Guardian knot.

06:43Where does this word come from?

06:45It comes from another story.

06:47I have no enmity with that.

06:50I read the same story.

06:52I am also interested in that.

06:54But I want to explain to our countrymen

06:58that you should also read about yourself.

07:02Understand the importance of this.

07:05Indian strategic culture will not be made from the experiences and stories of others.

07:10Indian strategic culture will be made from the epic of India.

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