Shivaji and His Times c19.s2.20

c19.s2.20

It was only human nature if the noblest members of the despised families (or castes) resented this injustice and tyranny of soceity and, in the bitterness of public humiliation, sought to be avenged on the persecuting church and State by going over to the enemies of their country and faith. Such action, on the part of the oppressors and the oppressed alike, is impossible where a true sense of nationality has taken root. Patriotism could not grow on the Indian soil (except among compact clans of blood-kindred like the Rajputs.) The State, as an impersonal continuous being,—higher and more durable than our individual selves, could not be conceived of by the rulers of Hindu India whose sole care was for the benefit of self and not for the good of the community as a whole.