Nevertheless the spread of Western ideas and habits was bound to loosen to some extent the Brahmans’ hold upon Hindu society, for that hold is chiefly rooted in the immemorial sanctity of custom, which new habits and methods imported from the West necessarily tended to undermine.  Scrupulous—­and, according to many earnest Englishmen, over-scrupulous—­as we were to respect religious beliefs and prejudices, the influence of Western civilization could not fail to clash directly or indirectly with many of the ordinances of Hindu orthodoxy.  In non-essentials Brahmanism soon found it expedient to relax the rigour of caste obligations, as for instance to meet the hard case of young Hindus who could not travel across the “black water” to Europe for their studies without breaking caste, or indeed travel even in their own country in railways and river steamers without incurring the pollution of bodily contact with the “untouchable” castes.  Penances were at first imposed which had gradually to be lightened until they came to be merely nominal.  Graver issues were raised when such ancient customs as infant marriage and the degradation of child widows were challenged.  The ferment of new ideas was spreading amongst the Brahmans themselves.  Some had openly discarded their ancestral faith, and many more were moved to search their own scriptures for some interpretation of the law less inconsistent with Western standards.  It seemed at one moment as if, under the inspiration of men like Ranade in the Deccan and Tagore in Bengal, Brahmanism itself was about to take the lead in purging Hinduism of its most baneful superstitions and bringing it into line with the philosophy and ethics of the West.  But the liberal movement failed to prevail against the forces of popular superstition and orthodox bigotry, combined with the bitterness too frequently resulting from the failure of Western education to secure material success or even an adequate livelihood for those who had departed from the old ways.  Though there have been and still are many admirable exceptions, Brahmanism remained the stronghold of reaction against the Western invasion.  Of recent years, educated Brahmans have figured prominently in the social and religious revival of Hinduism, and they have figured no less prominently, whether in the ranks of the extremists or amongst the moderate and advanced politicians, in the political movement which has accompanied that revival.

CHAPTER IV.

BRAHMANISM AND DISAFFECTION IN THE DECCAN.

Fundamental as is the antagonism between the civilization represented by the British Raj and the essential spirit of Brahmanism.  It is not, of course, always or everywhere equally acute, for there is no more uniformity about Brahmanism than about any other Indian growth.  But in the Deccan Brahmanism has remained more fiercely militant than in any other part of India, chiefly perhaps because nowhere had it wielded such