they are not founded on any one logical principle but merely on the need felt by people who have something in common to associate together.  Many are based on tribal divisions; some, such as the Marathas and Newars, may be said to be nationalities.  In many the bond of union is occupation, in a few it is sectarian religion.  We can still observe how members of a caste who migrate from their original residence tend to form an entirely new caste, and how intertribal marriages among the aborigines create new tribes.

4

Sect[424] must not be confounded with caste.  Hindu sects are of many kinds; some, if not militant, are at least exceedingly self-confident.  Others are so gentle in stating their views that they might be called schools rather than sects, were the word not too intellectual.  The notion that any creed or code can be quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus, is less prevalent than in Europe and even the Veda, though it is the eternal word, is admitted to exist in several recensions.  Hinduism is possible as a creed only to those who select.  In its literal sense it means simply all the beliefs and rites recognized in India, too multifarious and inconsistent for the most hospitable and addled brain to hold.  But the Hindus, who are as loth to abolish queer beliefs and practices as they are to take animal life, are also the most determined seekers after a satisfying form of religion.  Brahmanic ritual and Buddhist monasticism demand the dedication of a life.  Not everyone can afford that, but the sect is open to all.  It attempts to sort out of the chaos of mythology and superstition something which all can understand and all may find useful.  It selects some aspect of Hinduism and makes the best of it.  Sects usually start by preaching theism and equality in the sight of God, but in a few generations mythology and social distinctions creep in.  Hence though the prevalence of sect is undoubtedly a feature of modern Hinduism it is also intelligible that some observers should assert that most Hindus belong to the same general religion and that only the minority are definitely sectarian.  The sectarian tendency is stronger in Vishnuism than in Sivaism.  The latter has produced some definite sects, as, for instance, Lingayats, but is not like Vishnuism split up into a number of Churches each founded by a human teacher and provided by him with a special creed.

Most Indian sects are in their origin theistic, that is to say, they take a particular deity and identify him with the Supreme Being.  But the pantheistic tendency does not disappear.  Popular religion naturally desires a personal deity.  But it is significant that the personal deity frequently assumes pantheistic attributes and is declared to be both the world and the human soul.  The best known sects arose after Islam had entered India and some of them, such as the Sikhs, show a blending of Hindu and Moslem ideas.  But if Mohammedan influence favoured the formation of corporations pledged to worship one particular deity, it acted less by introducing something new than by quickening a line of thought already existing.  The Bhagavad-gita is as complete an exposition of sectarian pantheism as any utterances posterior to Mohammedanism.