P. K. Gautam

Traditionally, Kautilya or Vishnugupta, is considered the author of Arthashastra. He is also known as Chanakya, the scholar and chief minister who ‘destroyed the power of the Nandas and placed Chandragupta Maurya on the throne of Magadha’ in the 4th century bc. By the name of Chanakya, he had also authored a text known as Chanakya Niti. However, there is no proper understanding in the general public about the seminal work authored by Kautilya such as the Arthashastra and Chanakya Niti.

• P. K. Gautam |
• January-March 2023 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Kamandaka’s Nitisara was composed after the classic and the only surviving root text of Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Both the texts are important milestones in Indic heritage and tradition of political science. They share many fundamental and enduring similarities in concepts and vocabulary. There are also dissimilarities and some unique features such as Kamandaka’s strategy of Upeksha (neglect, diplomatic indifference) reused and revived during the Indian freedom struggle.

• P. K. Gautam |
• July-September 2021 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Consultant to Indigenous Historical Knowledge Project at IDSA, Colonel P. K. Gautam’s article titled ‘Science and India’ has been published in Liberal Studies, Vol.3, Issue 2, July-December, 2018.

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Consultant to Indigenous Historical Knowledge Project at IDSA, Col PK Gautam’s article ‘Military-Ecology Interface’ has been published in the Journal of the United Service Institution of India (USI), Vol. CXLIX, No. 615, January-March 2019.

The threats to national security have both, widened and broadened. Threats are no longer just militaries invading and conquering a country as in the past. Today threats such as ecological degradation and adverse impact of climate change are to be catered for by adaptation with resilience. Joint military doctrine recognises emerging non-traditional challenges. This article traces contribution and interface by the military to ecological security. To understand contribution by the Indian military, a brief history of environmental stewardship with empirical examples of activities has been covered. The second part is about the way the United States (US) Indo-Pacific Command has institutionalised Environmental Security Forum. It achieves both, military to military cooperation and is a tool of military diplomacy. The article also recommends mechanism for addressing the present and future challenges.

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Statecraft, diplomacy and warfare are not only a matter of brute force, but also a function of scholarship to understand the past, present and future of the art, science and literature of national and international security. At higher levels in their professional career, besides the armed forces, a number of civil servants too have to deal with the state’s use or threat of the use of legitimate force. This article suggests broadening the education for synergetic civil–military relations (CMR).

• P. K. Gautam |
• April-June 2019 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Consultant to Indigenous Historical Knowledge Project at IDSA, Col PK Gautam’s article, titled ‘Dharma: The Moral Aspect of Statecraft’ was published in UNISCI Journal, No.49, January 2019, University of Madrid, Special Issue on Contemporary India: Foreign and Security Policy.

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Consultant, IDSA, Col PK Gautam’s co-authored entry on ‘Kautilya (4th Century BCE) along with Shri Kishan Rana, has been featured in ‘The Encyclopedia of Diplomacy’, published by Wiley Online Library.

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The Peloponnesian war was fought from 431 to 401 BC between the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the Athenian Empire, known as the Delian League led by Pericles, the ruler of Athens. In the initial phase of the war, Thucydides (460–395 BC) was removed from command by the Athenian government after he failed as the commanding general to prevent a Spartan occupation of Amphipolis. He was exiled for 20 years. This came as a blessing in disguise for the scholar in him. The exiled general now had the scholarly atmosphere of solitude to write his book as the war was fought.

• P. K. Gautam |
• November 2018 |
• Strategic Analysis

This article posits that military science has been one of the most neglected subjects in Indian history in practice and in scholarship. Greater, popular scholarly focus tends to be mostly on subjects dealing with grand strategy and with it, abstract armchair theorising. While grand strategy is necessary at the political–military level, it is not sufficient as victory or defeat also depends on the capacity of the armed forces to achieve the desired results during the conduct of war.

• P. K. Gautam |
• January-March 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

Research Fellow, IDSA, Col PK Gautam’s article on Kautilya’s Arthashastra, titled ‘Kautilya’s Arthashastra and its Relevance to Contemporary Strategic Studies’ was published in the April-June 2017 issue of the USI Journal.

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