Tempo:
CHAP. II
MODERN REFORMS
29
Muhammadans became
Indianized; and in the six- ^"^ ^^^
teenth century the great Akbar conceived the design conquerors
of establishing a national government or monarchy dmmTed^"'
which should unite the elements of the two systems:
but political obedience does not always denpte social
amalgamation, and the reaction upon the Muslim mind
perhaps increased that intolerance of Aurangzeb which
hastened the ruin of the dynasty.
The influence of a new people, who equalled or Action and
who
despised the reaction of
Muhammasanctity of Brahmans, and who authoritatively prodanism and
claimed the unity of God and his abhorrence of images, Brahbegan gradually to operate on the minds of the multi- manism.
tudes of India, and recalled even the learned to the
simple tenets of the Vedas, which Shankar Acharj had
disregarded. The operation was necessarily slow, for
the irnposing system of powers and emanations had
been adapted with much industry to the local or peculiar divinities of tribes and races, and in the lapse of
ages the legislation of Manu had become closely interwoven with the thoughts and habits of the people. Nor
did the proud distinctions of caste and the reverence
shown to Brahmans fail to attract the notice and the
admiration of the barbarous victors.
Shaikhs and
Saiyids had an innate holiness assigned to them, and
Mughals and Pathans copied the exclusiveness of
Rajputs. New superstition also emulated old credulity.
'Pirs'
and 'Shahids', saints and martyrs, equalled
Krishna and Bhairon in the number of their miracles,
and the Muhammadans almost forgot the unity of God
in the multitude of intercessors whose aid they
implored.
Thus custom jarred with custom, anid The popu
opinion with opinion, and while the few always fell lar belief
back with confidence upon their revelations, the Koran unsettled,
and Vedas, the public mind became agitated, and found
no sure resting-place with Brahmans or Mullas, with
surpassed Kshattriyas
in valour,
Mahadev or Muhammad.^
continue to this day to be used, even by the English, in revenue
accounts. The commencement of each might, without much
violence, be adapted to the 1st of July of any year of the Christian era, and the Muhammadans and Hindus could at the same
time retain, the former the Hijri, and the latter the Shak
(Saka) and Sambat names of the months respectively. No
greater degree of uniformity or simplicity is required, and the
general predominance of the Englisli would render a measure
so obviously advantageous of easy introduction.
1 Gibbon has shown (History, ii. 356) how the scepticism
of learned Greeks and Romans proved favourable to the growi:h
of Christianity, and a writer in the Qtiarterly Review (for June
1846, p. 116) makes some just observations on the same subject.
The cause of the scepticism is not perhaps sufficiently attributed
MODERN REFORMS
29
Muhammadans became
Indianized; and in the six- ^"^ ^^^
teenth century the great Akbar conceived the design conquerors
of establishing a national government or monarchy dmmTed^"'
which should unite the elements of the two systems:
but political obedience does not always denpte social
amalgamation, and the reaction upon the Muslim mind
perhaps increased that intolerance of Aurangzeb which
hastened the ruin of the dynasty.
The influence of a new people, who equalled or Action and
who
despised the reaction of
Muhammasanctity of Brahmans, and who authoritatively prodanism and
claimed the unity of God and his abhorrence of images, Brahbegan gradually to operate on the minds of the multi- manism.
tudes of India, and recalled even the learned to the
simple tenets of the Vedas, which Shankar Acharj had
disregarded. The operation was necessarily slow, for
the irnposing system of powers and emanations had
been adapted with much industry to the local or peculiar divinities of tribes and races, and in the lapse of
ages the legislation of Manu had become closely interwoven with the thoughts and habits of the people. Nor
did the proud distinctions of caste and the reverence
shown to Brahmans fail to attract the notice and the
admiration of the barbarous victors.
Shaikhs and
Saiyids had an innate holiness assigned to them, and
Mughals and Pathans copied the exclusiveness of
Rajputs. New superstition also emulated old credulity.
'Pirs'
and 'Shahids', saints and martyrs, equalled
Krishna and Bhairon in the number of their miracles,
and the Muhammadans almost forgot the unity of God
in the multitude of intercessors whose aid they
implored.
Thus custom jarred with custom, anid The popu
opinion with opinion, and while the few always fell lar belief
back with confidence upon their revelations, the Koran unsettled,
and Vedas, the public mind became agitated, and found
no sure resting-place with Brahmans or Mullas, with
surpassed Kshattriyas
in valour,
Mahadev or Muhammad.^
continue to this day to be used, even by the English, in revenue
accounts. The commencement of each might, without much
violence, be adapted to the 1st of July of any year of the Christian era, and the Muhammadans and Hindus could at the same
time retain, the former the Hijri, and the latter the Shak
(Saka) and Sambat names of the months respectively. No
greater degree of uniformity or simplicity is required, and the
general predominance of the Englisli would render a measure
so obviously advantageous of easy introduction.
1 Gibbon has shown (History, ii. 356) how the scepticism
of learned Greeks and Romans proved favourable to the growi:h
of Christianity, and a writer in the Qtiarterly Review (for June
1846, p. 116) makes some just observations on the same subject.
The cause of the scepticism is not perhaps sufficiently attributed
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