ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of culture in promoting India’s soft power, with a special focus on links with key Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) partners, especially China. It also examines government efforts to promote Indian culture and contrast that with the success of the commercial and highly popular film industry, which has a global audience, thanks to the digitalization of commerce and media. The chapter further examines India’s global image as the world’s largest democracy, a particular distinction among the BRICS countries. The dissemination of Hindu and Buddhist ideas across Asia was substantial: it is no coincidence that the official airline of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, is named Garuda, the Sanskrit name for the eagle on which the Hindu God Vishnu rides. Buddhism was also a central link between India and China, indicating a very long historical association between the two great civilizational powers of Asia.
