The tourists dominated England with bat and ball over the five days and Ishant Sharma's lethal spell of bowling after lunch on Monday sealed their first victory at Lord's in 28 years.
Having been put in on the opening day, India survived a green-looking wicket to post a competitive total as England's bowlers failed to use favourable conditions to their advantage.
Although they were 24 runs behind after the first innings, Dhoni's side piled on the runs to set England 318 to win, a target the hosts were unable to reach as Sharma recorded figures of 7-74.
"It is a memorable win for us, not many players have played Test cricket in England, their approach was brilliant, it was a fantastic performance," he said
"I think we learnt from the 2011 series that it is important to stay in the game until the third day, because then our spinners come into the game. That was something that was needed, but we couldn't in 2011.
"The first session today showed us that we had to be at our best, at that point what happens is you start doubting yourself.
"That last over before lunch, Ishant didn't want to bowl short, I just told him he has to and turned away. It was a fantastic performance."
Sharma removed Moeen Ali (39) with the final ball of the opening session on Monday before taking the wickets of Matt Prior (12), Joe Root (66), Ben Stokes (0) and Stuart Broad (8) to leave England reeling.
His display brought him career-best figures, and he thanked his captain for an inspirational piece of advice.
"The way MS has handled the team, the way he keeps on motivating the guys [is excellent]," he said. "I think all these wickets are not for me, it is only for the captain, he told me you are tall enough, you have to try the bouncer."