Rabindranath Tagore, Amartya Sen, and the Early Indian Classical Period

This book argues that the distance between Tagore and Sen’s foreign policy recommendations and the policies pursued by the leading states in the international system is better understood when it is viewed in terms of the early Indian classical period. In particular, the idea that violent actions lead to violent responses—and are therefore both immoral and imprudent—is prominently expressed in the early Buddhist Discourses and the Ashokan inscriptions as well as the writings of Tagore and Sen.