Tempo:
:hap. II
MODERN REFORMS
27
were, the atheism of some, the belief ol others in a
limitary deity, and the more general reception of the
ioctrine of 'Maya' or illusion, which allows sensation to The dogma
oe a true guide on this side of the grave, but sees no- of 'Mayareceives a
thing certaio or enduring in the constitution of the
material world; a doctrine eagerly adopted by the sub- pi°cation^'
ijequent reformers, who gave it a moral or religious
application.^
Such was the state of the Hindu faith or polity a General
thousand years after Christ. The fitness of the original ^^^^j^;^^^"!
system for general adoption had been materially im- ^^
paired by the gradual recognition of a distinction of
race the Brahmans had isolated themselves from the
soldiers and the peasants and they destroyed their own
unanimity by admitting a virtual plurality of gods, and
by giving assemblies of ascetics a pre-eminence over
communities of pious householders. In a short time the
gods were regarded as rivals, and their worshippers as
The rude Kshattriya warrior became a
antagonists.
politic chief, with objects of his own, and ready to prefer one hierarchy or one divinity to another; while the
very latitude of the orthodox worship led the multitude
to doubt the sincerity and the merits of a body of
ministers who no longer harmonized among themselves.
;
A new people now entered the country, and a new Early Arai>
element hastened the decline of corrupted Hinduism, incursions
India had but little felt the earlier incursions of the *'^*° ^"J^^
Arabs during the first and second centuries of the ^^^*
'Hijri'; and when the Abbasides became caliphs, they
were more anxious to consolidate their vast empire,
already weaknened by the separation of Spain, than to
waste their means on distant conquests which rebellion
might soon dismember. The Arab, moreover, was no
longer a single-minded enthusiastic soldier, but a selfish
and turbulent viceroy; the original impulse given by
the prophet to his countrymen had achieved its limit
of conquest, and Muhammadanism required a new infusion of faith and hardihood to enable it to triumph
over the heathens of Delhi and the Christians of Constantinople. This awakening spirit was acquired partly Muhamfrom the mountain Kurds, but chiefly from the pastoral ^^^^^^'^"^
Turkomans, who, from causes imperfectly understood, "[^^ ^^_
were once more impelled upon the fertile and wealthy puise on
south. During the ninth century, these warlike shep- the conherds began to establish themselves from the Indus version of
the Turkoto the Black Sea, and they oppressed and protected the
"'^"^•
empire of Muhammad, as Goths and Vandals and their
^
1
See Appendix VI.
MODERN REFORMS
27
were, the atheism of some, the belief ol others in a
limitary deity, and the more general reception of the
ioctrine of 'Maya' or illusion, which allows sensation to The dogma
oe a true guide on this side of the grave, but sees no- of 'Mayareceives a
thing certaio or enduring in the constitution of the
material world; a doctrine eagerly adopted by the sub- pi°cation^'
ijequent reformers, who gave it a moral or religious
application.^
Such was the state of the Hindu faith or polity a General
thousand years after Christ. The fitness of the original ^^^^j^;^^^"!
system for general adoption had been materially im- ^^
paired by the gradual recognition of a distinction of
race the Brahmans had isolated themselves from the
soldiers and the peasants and they destroyed their own
unanimity by admitting a virtual plurality of gods, and
by giving assemblies of ascetics a pre-eminence over
communities of pious householders. In a short time the
gods were regarded as rivals, and their worshippers as
The rude Kshattriya warrior became a
antagonists.
politic chief, with objects of his own, and ready to prefer one hierarchy or one divinity to another; while the
very latitude of the orthodox worship led the multitude
to doubt the sincerity and the merits of a body of
ministers who no longer harmonized among themselves.
;
A new people now entered the country, and a new Early Arai>
element hastened the decline of corrupted Hinduism, incursions
India had but little felt the earlier incursions of the *'^*° ^"J^^
Arabs during the first and second centuries of the ^^^*
'Hijri'; and when the Abbasides became caliphs, they
were more anxious to consolidate their vast empire,
already weaknened by the separation of Spain, than to
waste their means on distant conquests which rebellion
might soon dismember. The Arab, moreover, was no
longer a single-minded enthusiastic soldier, but a selfish
and turbulent viceroy; the original impulse given by
the prophet to his countrymen had achieved its limit
of conquest, and Muhammadanism required a new infusion of faith and hardihood to enable it to triumph
over the heathens of Delhi and the Christians of Constantinople. This awakening spirit was acquired partly Muhamfrom the mountain Kurds, but chiefly from the pastoral ^^^^^^'^"^
Turkomans, who, from causes imperfectly understood, "[^^ ^^_
were once more impelled upon the fertile and wealthy puise on
south. During the ninth century, these warlike shep- the conherds began to establish themselves from the Indus version of
the Turkoto the Black Sea, and they oppressed and protected the
"'^"^•
empire of Muhammad, as Goths and Vandals and their
^
1
See Appendix VI.
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