The Rashtrakutas and their Times c24.15

c24.15

In the religious and social spheres, our age was an age of transition. It was towards the end of our period that Buddhism, reconversions into Hinduism, intercaste dinners and marriages, and religious parishads having powers to settle socio-religious matters, disappeared from the Hindu society. Vratas, tonsure of widows, provincial sub-castes, the association of dancing girls with temples, the resuscitation of the Satī custom in the Deccan, and the more intricate Smārta ritual are innovations that can be traced either to our, or to the immediately succeeding age. It is probable that our age believed that most of these changes were changes for the better, but the subsequent history of the Hindu society has shown that they have weakened its unity and cohesion. One cannot help thinking that the thinkers of the age should have taken a longer view of the situation, and realised the full consequences of the new changes that were being either forced upon or recommended by them.