Mahabharata Mbh 12.59.33 and Kautilya’s Arthashastra KA 1.2.1 identify four sources of knowledge – (a) Anvikshiki (cognitive methods); (b) Trayi (Vedic texts); (c) Vartta (economics)’ and (d) Dandaniti (governance) for the King. Based on a modern interpretation of this tradition, a method of measurement of national power called Kautilyan National Power Index (KNPI) can be explored. KNPI consists of four parameters derived from the four sources of knowledge. The KNPI parameters are: (a) cognitive power; (b) moral power; (c) transactional power: and (d) coercive power.

Anvikshiki, according to KA 1.2.10, consists of Sankhya (metaphysics), Yoga (behaviourism) and Lokayata (materialism), corresponding to cognitive abilities in a modern sense. Cognitive power is the ability to gain, interpret, produce and distribute knowledge. Knowledge is the basis of power enhancement through strategic thinking, technological advancement and international influence. Some of indicators to measure cognitive power of a nation are (i) Global Knowledge Index, (ii) Average IQ Level, (iii) Health Care Index, (iv) Global Hunger Index and (v) Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism.

The Global Knowledge Index measures the education, research, innovation, information and communications technology and the enabling environment in a nation. In 2020, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries ranked the highest in knowledge production. Besides the actual knowledge production, some psycho-physiological factors also influence the cognitive abilities of a nation, viz., IQ level of the population, public health and care facilities and nutrition of the population. In some of these, East Asian countries perform better than Western nations. Another important indicator is religious belief; however its impact on power is very complex. On one hand, less religiosity encourages more scientific outlook; on the other, being a centre of a religious sect provides a country power over people in other countries that have a large population of that sect. For example, the Holy See influences more than a billion Roman Catholics, Saudi Arabia has influence on Sunni Muslims, Iran on Shias, United States and Israel on Jews and Evangelical Christians and India on Hindus and Buddhists. This adds to their national power.

Trayi, according to KA 1.3.1-4, consists of the Vedic texts, the determinants of dharma. It corresponds to the social order prevalent in a nation and its moral legitimacy among the international community. It can be termed moral power and measured with (i) World Happiness Index, (ii) Good Country Ranking, (iii) World Index of Moral Freedom, (iv) Corruption Perceptions Index and (v) Democracy and Freedom Indices. Good standard of living, absence of corruption, freedom of speech and religion, etc. preserve the social order and willingness to act according to international norms, multilateralism, peaceful negotiations of disputes, etc. promote moral legitimacy. However, these ratings are affected by (a) the subjectivity of their “unnamed” experts, as argued by Sanjeev Sanyal and Aakanksha Arora (2022) and Salvatore Babones (2022), (b) Western civilisational bias and (c) liberal-socialist ideological bias. As a result, many of the smaller European countries tend to be ranked higher than other countries. Some of the freedom parameters in these ratings are deregulation of drug distribution and consumption, access to pornography and prostitution, cohabitation of unmarried couples, right to unilaterally declare one’s gender, etc., which contradict dharmic morality.

India can develop and promote International Dharmic Index, based on Indian values, e.g., (i) carbon footprint per capita, (ii) low meat diet, (iii) religious and social diversity in terms of number of gods and ethnicities, (iv) culture of celebrations in terms of number of festivals and auspicious days, (v) family responsibility – old parents supported by children, children brought up in joint families, low divorce rate, etc. and (vi) crime per capita.

Vartta and Dandaniti (KA 1.4) refer to the disciplines of economics and governance, which correspond to tangible hard power, consisting of (i) transactional power and (ii) coercive power. They can be measured with (i) Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP growth rate, GDP per capita, Human Development Index and Ease of Doing Business and (ii) size of the territory and population, military personnel, steel production, access to energy resources and advanced weapons and nuclear arsenal and delivery systems respectively. There are indices like Composite Index of National Capability (CINC), Lowy Institute Asia Power Index and Chinese Comprehensive National Power (CNP) indices that measure the overall national power and then rank the nations according to the points. The CINC emphasises on the tangible hard power, especially coercive power of a nation:.
CINC = (TPR + UPR + ISPR + ECR + MER + MPR) * / 6
*TPR = total population of country ratio. UPR = urban population of country ratio. ISPR = iron and steel production of country ratio. ECR = primary energy consumption ratio. MER = military expenditure ratio. MPR = military personnel ratio.

The latest CINC dataset on national material capabilities ranks China, the US, India, Russia and Japan (in this order) as the five most powerful countries in the world. The Chinese CNP indices have diverse parameters, including both hard and soft power components. Different Chinese institutions have developed their own CNP parameters, e.g., Academy of Military Science (AMS), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). Tsinghua University has two CNP indices – one developed by Hu Angang and Men Honghua and the other by Yan Xuetong.

India can develop two international indices based on Kautilyan parameters derived from Indian knowledge tradition: (a) Kautilyan National Power Index (KNPI); and (b) International Dharmic Index.
KNPI = cognitive power + moral power + transactional power + coercive power International Dharmic Index = quantification of Indian values (moral power)

For this purpose, India should promote and determine its own indices of the national power by assessing international distribution of power and the projection of the nation’s knowledge capabilities.

Dr. Saurav Sarmah is Assistant Professor, Chanakya University, Bengaluru.