This is in brief the doleful tale of the loyalist in the Deccan.  I shall briefly touch upon one or two things with reference to what will strengthen the hands of the loyal citizen.  The first thing is that the Government should boldly come forward to help on the coming into existence of a bigger class of educated men among the backward or lower classes of the Deccan.  The suspicion that they too will join hands with the agitator must vanish once for all.  The half-heartedness due to such lurking suspicion gives a fine tool in the hands of Government’s enemies.  The English people should realize the probable danger of this and should use their vast resources to create a strong body of educated men from the ranks of the loyal castes.  H.H. the Maharaja of Kolhapur, in his attempts to break down Brahmanical supremacy, found nothing so useful as the bringing into being of such a class and for this he is doing the best he can.  Unless this example is followed by the Government, there is no hope of a strong loyal party coming forth to combat the evil work done by Extremists.  The strengthening of the loyal Press such as it exists and adding to it is another measure the Government might wisely adopt.

NOTE 25

HINDU THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT.

Englishmen are apt to ignore the hold which ancient Hindu traditions concerning the rights and duties of kingship and the old Hindu theories of government derived from the sacred books of Hinduism still have on the Indian mind.  They have been recently reviewed in an article contributed to The Times from a very scholarly pen.

The ancient Hindu theory of government is fully disclosed in the Mahabharata, the most majestic work ever produced by the human intellect, a work, too, which is to-day as popular with Indians as when 40 centuries ago it was chanted to instruct the youth and beguile the tedium of the princes of Hastinapura.  Unlike all systems of government known to the West, the Hindu system contains no popular element whatever.  In it we find no Witanagemote in which the nobles may advise the monarch; still less has it any place for a comitia centuriata, with its stormy masses of spearmen, to scrutinize and control the encroachments of the Royal prerogative.  In the kingdoms described In the Mahabharata the inhabitants are rigidly divided into four wholly distinct and separate classes (Udhyog Parva, p. 67, Roy’s translation).  First come the Brahmans whose duty it is to study, to teach, to minister at sacrifices—­receiving in return gifts from, “known” or, as we should say, respectable persons.  Then follow the Kshattriyas or the warrior class, whose whole life has to be spent in fighting and in warlike exercises.  Thirdly come the Vaisyas who acquire merit by accumulating wealth through commerce, cattle-breeding, and agriculture.  Fourthly, we have the Sudras, or serfs, who are bound to obey the other three classes, but who are forbidden to study their scriptures or partake in their sacrifices.