Let me tell you about the Indian political thought through 'Arthshastra'. Arthshastra basically belong to the tradition of the dandashastra, prime issue is the 'state craft', it also discusses about the DHARMA and if you read both the documents that is the Manusmriti and the Arthshastra , thy both are in continuity. Since you must have heard about Chandragupta Maurya, whom the Chanakya led to victory over the Dhanananda, which later established the mighty Mauryan empire in India and today's Pakistan. So 'Artha' here means the material well being. In his words "Material well being is supreme, attainment of all other goals- Dharma, Kama, Moksha depends on material well being". In ancient times acquiring land was considered to be the greatest thing hence the Arthshastra tell, how to acquire land.
Kautilya says, it is natural for the state to acquire land, the 1st land to be acquired is the land of neighbor and hence neighbors will be natural enemies ( Applying it to India in today scenario - Pakistan and China are our natural enemies). So main idea of Arthshastra comes out to be the, war, strategic planning, balance of power and geopolitics. and Arthshastra can be considered as "1st textbook of Geopolitics", that is the science of capturing the land. Kautilya describe land as organism who is bound to grow and it depends on your ability whether it's your land that is captured by someone or is it the other party whom you have captured.
So, the Arthshastra challenges the western view that Indians lack he strategic culture. I think it is most unfortunate that the independent India policymakers have overlooked the wisdom found in the Arthshastra. However in the very recent we have started to rediscover our ancient Indian wisdom.