History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c11.13

v1.c11.13

The question why nations fall is one of extreme complexity and difficulty. But there can be no doubt that representative government creates a feeling of self-interest in the people which is the great backbone of a nation's strength. History indeed records the fall of the brilliant city-states of Greece and of Rome inspite of such national sentiment. But we must remember that that sentiment had been completely undermined in Greece and Rome by demoralization and luxury and hence it was that these states succumbed and fell. But they rose again when the same sentiment became strong. The Indian states on the other hand never developed the national sentiment at all and hence were never strong. They could not have developed into strong states in the succeeding centuries. On the contrary, coming under the influence of certain causes which we shall discuss in another place they gradually became enervated and hence fell easily before the advancing tide of Mahomedan invasions.