The recent conclusion of the diplomacy surrounding the Indo-US nuclear treaty ends months of speculation on the implications for India’s overall relationship with the United States. While deep thinkers have expressed concern that the nuclear deal will empower rogue governments, others have pointed out that the nuclear deal represents a vote of confidence in India’s intention to handle nuclear material responsibly. However, neither of these viewpoints incorporated a semiotic analysis of nuclear deterrence or strategic diplomacy, which has diminished their usefulness for decision making. The semiotics of nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and South Asian geopolitics are intimately connected, and it would be unwise to understand these without first analysing the symbolic foundations that bind them all. In this piece, I will explore these symbolic foundations, which will hopefully add to the understanding and dispel confusion.
The cultural artefact which ties together the concerns at the heart of this argument is the umbrella, which has recently retaken its rightful place in popular culture with the popularity of Rihanna’s Umbrella. This makes my task of making the semiotic connections explicit easier.
At its heart, the umbrella is a metaphor for projecting power, or influence. The shade provided by an umbrella represents the protection offered by a strong central state to outlying regions or states from rogue elements, barbarians, or adversarial cultures. It is no coincidence that the threat to defend an ally with weapons of mass destruction is called bringing it under the nuclear umbrella, or that conglomerates transfer internal capital from one company to another under an umbrella strategy. We will now examine the umbrella’s semiotic significance in history, so that we may better understand the implications on nuclear strategy.
The Classical Umbrella
Using the umbrella as a metaphor for protection or strategic control originated in India1. The chakravartins of ancient and medieval India did not attempt direct conquest of the known world as Alexander did, but instead sought to bring it under their umbrella – by taking military, diplomatic, or cultural action to ensure that surrounding states would defer to their own geostrategy. Mahapadma Nanda, the adventurer who seized the throne of Magadha in the chaos following the demise of Ajatashatru, was the first Indian monarch to proclaim himself a one-umbrella sovereign. Mahapadma Nanda accomplished his vision for national greatness by slaughtering the corrupt nobles2 who were conducting palace intrigues. This allowed him to direct the energies of the North Indian kingdoms and republics to repelling the Greek and Bactrian invaders. Mahapadma Nanda’s umbrella of strategic vision allowed the states of the Gangetic plain to raise a combined army of two hundred thousand infantry, twenty thousand cavalry, and five thousand war elephants.
It was Mahapadma Nanda’s umbrella of miltary defence and reformed governance which allowed the university at Taxila to flourish without fear of attack from the Persians or the Greeks, and which allowed Kautilya to prepare his magnum opus and enable Chandragupta Maurya to create a unified Indian empire. The Mauryan, and then the Gupta dynasty, created their own umbrella of foreign policy, trade and a standing army which prevented further attacks from the west, and ensured submission and tribute from the kingdoms of the East.
The Medieval Umbrella
Tragically, the Dark and Middle ages were marked by the umbrella being eclipsed as a semiotic metaphor for alliance building and strategic control. The Dark ages were dominated by non-state actors, such as the Huns, the Vikings, the Transoxanian raiders, and the Teutonic knights. The dark ages and medieval era represented a stopper on the concept of national greatness, as small states got caught up in interminable conflict with each other and with non state actors. While there were occasional flashes of umbrella states and leaders re-emerging, such as Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire, none of these were able to sustain greatness or impose their strategic vision across a significant span of territory. Naturally, there was little or no umbrella-related research or umbrella-related culture in this time period.
The one state which was able to maintain the policy of the umbrella of protection and influence in the Middle Ages was the Chozha Empire under Rajaraja Chola and Rajendra Chola. The Chozha emperors were acclaimed as chakravartins, whose white umbrella offered shade and protection to the three worlds. While this is hyperbole, it cannot be denied that the umbrella of Chozha influence extended throughout the Indian ocean, to Srivijaya, Kamboj, Chavakam, and the Arab trade routes. It is also no surprise that the Saivite Chozhas naturally took to an umbrella-centric foreign policy. The umbrella is simultaneously a phallic symbol (when furled) and a yonic symbol (when unfurled). The parallel to the ardhanaareshwaravataram of Siva is clear3.
Four hundred years later, a similar thalassocratic empire was created by the Hansa, but they failed to leverage their umbrella of standardised legal practices and trade terms into an overarching state. Overall, the medieval era was a hiatus in the long and glorious history of the umbrella.
The Post-Renaissance Umbrella
The European Renaissance was also a renaissance for the umbrella – in its metaphorical as well as actual forms. Leonardo da Vinci, in his sketchbooks, developed new designs for parasols that foreshadowed the modern spoked umbrella. Meanwhile, Macchiavelli independently discovered the principles of an umbrella state first enunciated by Kautilya. The Peace of Westphalia4 and the end of the Crusades also laid the ground for the modern nation state, which would eventually evolve into an umbrella-based colonial empire.
Closer to the birthplace of the concept of the umbrella state, Shivaji united the Marathas, and created a confederacy which exerted control over the entire Deccan plateau, including major trade routes where the Marathas did not directly control territory. This absolute control allowed Shivaji to declare himself Chhatrapati, or wielder of the defensive umbrella. In an interesting parallel to the first ekchhatra chakravartin, Shivaji too was a shudra who rose to the monarchy, and who was declared a kshatriya by Gaga Bhatt, the disciple of my eminent ancestor, Acharya Sri Bhadrakumarasambhav Pandey.
However, the umbrella in popular culture truly flowered in Edwardian England, a reflection of British empire building and the projection of power through a standardised legal system, a dreadnought-based navy, and a formidable network of telegraph cables, merchant navy ships, and canals. The importance of the umbrella is clearly delineated in Wodehouse’s biographies of RE Psmith, among other important works of the period. The symbol of peace and protection found its greatest expression in the Cold War, though, as the umbrella became nuclear, and covered entire continents. The Cold War and Nehru’s flirtation with the Soviet Empire were reflected in Shri 420, where Raj Kapoor romances Nargis under an umbrella while wearing a Russian red hat. Ten years later, Britain acknowledged the American nuclear umbrella that protected Western Europe with Mary Poppins, a musical film about a nanny who floats down from heaven using a magic umbrella, and ushers in peace and prosperity. However, Mary Poppins was the last acknowledgment of umbrellas in popular culture, for many years, suggesting the waning symbolical importance of umbrellas as a new breed of non-state power centres such as Palestinian militants, Western European communist terrorists, and Colombian drug cartels appeared. At this point, however, I am unable to test the direction of causality. What is certain is that the umbrella faded out of popular culture, not to be seen again until 2007, when Rihanna released her extremely successful song by the same name.
The Umbrella in the Present Day
It is no surprise that the return of the umbrella to popular culture came in 2007, or that its return was such an astounding success. Rihanna’s Umbrella broke the record for iTunes downloads on debut, and narrowly missed being the best-selling single of 2007. This coincided with the deliberations over the Indo-US nuclear deal, as well as attempts by India, Australia, the United States, and Japan to create a new security umbrella over the Indian ocean. With the return of foreign policy centred around the projection of power and national greatness, it was inevitable that umbrellas would return to popular culture as well. The lyrics of Umbrella clearly point to the geostrategic implications of the nuclear deal and its ability to contain China’s growing influence over Asia – ‘Said I’ll always be a friend – took an oath I’ma stick it out till the end‘is a pointer to the formalisation of the treaty; while ‘These fancy things, will never come in between – You’re part of my entity, here for Infinity‘is a pointer to the nuclear deal being only one aspect of a deepening and permanent strategic partnership. The chorus – ‘You can stand under my umbrella – ella – ella – ella – ay – ay – ay‘ denotes the security that the strategic partnership will bring to the Indian Ocean from the Persian Gulf to the Straits of Malacca.
As an aside, the interactions of the physical umbrella, the umbrella as popular culture symbol, and the umbrella as diplomatic policy in the current age are intriguing. The designers of the latest in umbrella technology are to be found in New York and London (examples may be found here, here, here, here, and here), the global financial centres and home to the creative class; the factories which produce umbrellas cheaply and in bulk are in East Asia; and the artist who has brought the umbrella back into popular culture is from Barbados. Semiotically, this depicts the upheaval in geopolitics – the creative vision for security umbrellas will be provided by the First World, the active execution will be performed by the tigers around the Indian Ocean, and the generation of popular support will fall to the previously marginalised nations which will benefit disproportionately from peace dividends.
The nuclear deal and joint naval exercises have been accompanied by one of the most popular depictions of umbrellas ever. As strategic relationships realign across the world, and more nations assume responsibility for projecting their military and diplomatic power to calm conflict zones, put rogue states and actors in their place, and develop strategies and conventions for facing global challenges such as climate change and the implementation of the MDGs; we shall undoubtedly see the re-emergence of umbrellas in music, film, and popular literature.
1: The umbrella as symbol of सहस्रार (the sahasrara chakra) in Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine, while interesting, has no immediate bearing on a discussion of modern day geopolitics.
2: Mahapadma Nanda’s vendetta against the nobles finds parallels in Parshurama’s slaughter of kshatriyas. For further reading on this subject, I recommend my father Dr. Acharya Somuchidononanda Pandey’s papers on the practice of the Parshurama cult in Vaazhapazha.
3: Naturally, the umbrella is therefore also a symbol for the struggle for transgender rights. However, a discussion of this issue is out of place in this particular article. If readers wish to study the synergies between Saivism, transgender rights, and foreign policy further, they may consult works by Dr. Tara Tatiana Pandey, and Sri Sri 22 Yevgeniy Yajmaan Pandey.
4: As I have discussed in my doctoral thesis, the Treaty of Westphalia led to the stable interaction of popular culture and politics not only for umbrellas, but for a variety of other symbols.
The author is a post-doctoral fellow of Semiotics in Popular Culture and Politics at the Università degli Studi di Parma and is also a visting consultant at the International Foundation for the Promotion of National Greatness. He can be contacted at boris.bhartriraj@pandey.ru.