Bharat and the Quest for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम): India’s Global Rise in a Divided World
Upending Geopolitics: Technologies and Cities [Forthcoming], TANDO Institute, Publisher: World Scientific
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम) is a Sanskrit phrase meaning “the world is one family.”
The chapter “Bharat and the Quest for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: India’s Global Rise in a Divided World” explores India’s ascent as a global power rooted in its civilizational identity, democratic ethos, and moral worldview. It opens by framing India’s rise within the broader transformation of global politics from a unipolar to a multipolar order. The author argues that India’s growing global prominence is not just a function of economic growth or demographic scale but of its civilizational depth — a worldview grounded in the ancient Sanskrit ideal Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम (“the world is one family”). This ethos underpins India’s commitment to pluralism, cooperation, and a rules-based international order. Unlike traditional power politics driven by dominance, India’s approach aspires to harmonize power with principle, progress with ethics. As the world navigates fragmentation and ideological contestation, the author contends that understanding India’s rise requires a civilizational lens — one that recognizes the continuity between its philosophical heritage and its modern democratic framework. Drawing on figures like S. Jaishankar and classical thinkers such as Kautilya, the chapter presents India’s strategic culture as one that values prudence, moral restraint, and autonomy, positioning it uniquely to guide an inclusive global order amid growing polarization.
The second section situates India’s modern evolution within a historical continuum stretching from Bharat — a civilizational entity shaped by millennia of intellectual, linguistic, and spiritual pluralism — to the contemporary republic that blends ancient ethics with democratic modernity. The text underscores that India’s strength lies in its pluralist structure, where diversity of language, faith, and identity coexists within a constitutional framework that upholds unity through democracy rather than homogeneity. From Nehru’s institution-building and moral internationalism to the post-1991 liberalization that redefined India’s economic identity, and finally to the assertive nationalism of the post-2014 era, India’s political economy reflects a gradual maturation from postcolonial fragility to strategic self-confidence. Programs such as Digital India, Make in India, and Ayushman Bharat, alongside its G20 presidency, signal a shift toward development that is both inclusive and globally resonant. The author argues that India’s rise is not about emulating Western modernity but about rearticulating its own civilizational values—synthesizing spiritual depth with pragmatic governance—to present a model of moral, multipolar leadership for the twenty-first century.
A key theme running through the chapter is the contrast between India and China, two ancient civilizations that have re-emerged as pivotal forces shaping the global order, yet embody fundamentally different political and moral trajectories. While China’s rise is characterized by state centralization, authoritarian efficiency, and geopolitical assertiveness, India’s ascent rests on democratic pluralism, moral legitimacy, and strategic restraint. China seeks order through hierarchy and control; India seeks balance through dialogue and coexistence. Beijing’s model of development—driven by state-led capitalism, surveillance, and global infrastructure diplomacy—emphasizes speed, uniformity, and dominance. By contrast, New Delhi’s approach is slower but more organic, prioritizing consent, inclusion, and long-term stability. The author suggests that India’s challenge to China is not military or ideological alone but civilizational: it offers an alternative narrative of modernization without authoritarianism and progress without hegemony. Whereas China envisions a Sinocentric order rooted in economic dependency and strategic leverage, India advances a multipolar order grounded in mutual respect and shared responsibility. The two represent divergent pathways to power — one technocratic and centralized, the other moral and pluralistic. In this juxtaposition, the author sees the future of global governance being tested: whether the coming decades will be defined by coercive hierarchies or by cooperative pluralism. India’s ideal of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam thus stands not as rhetoric but as a civilizational answer to China’s hierarchical worldview — a vision of a world that aspires not to dominance, but to unity in diversity.
Manhar Singh 