Author: Jaideep A. Prabhu is a doctoral student in History from Vanderbilt University, where he is writing his dissertation on India’s nuclear policy, titled, Nuclear Dharma: India’s Wandering after the Atom. Prabhu also holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering from the same university and a Master’s from the George Washington University. Although Prabhu’s core competency is foreign and nuclear policy in Western Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East, he is keen observer of science & technology, energy and security policy, and religion.

Prabhu spends any spare time engaged in philosophy, martial arts, and literature. A polyglot, Prabhu also dabbles in cooking and outdoor activities such as kayaking and scuba, and follows football and tennis.

Prabhu is also the International Affairs and Security editor at the CRI Initiative.

Title: Chaturanga was a game developed in the 6^th century CE in India during the Gupta Empire and is widely considered to be the precursor to shatranj, or modern day chess. A Sanskrit word, chaturanga literally means ‘four limbs’ (chatur – four, anga – limbs). However, it is also understood to refer to the four divisions of the army – elephants, cavalry, chariots, and foot soldiers, which would today probably translate to army, navy, air force, and rocket forces. Applied to statecraft, it could also imply the four methods of dealing with foreign powers – saama, daana, bheda, and danda. Or, to take it as Rabindranath Tagore did in a novel by the same name, chaturanga could even refer to the purusharthas, the four aims of human existence according to Hindu philosophy – dharma, artha, kama, moksha.

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