Book Chapters

As global tensions intensify—China’s assertiveness in South Asia, political flux in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan—many view India’s posture as strategic alignment in response. Simultaneously, Washington’s Indo‑Pacific presence deepens. Yet beyond power‑play, a deeper narrative shapes India’s diplomacy.

The paper touches on the dating of a few key Nataraja bronzes from archaeometallurgical considertations to the Pallava period (c 7th to 9th century), prior to the Chola period and also explores the connections of the iconography to celestial observations of star positions of Orion and Syrius