History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c11.7

v1.c11.7

In this way diverged the political development of the Aryans in the east and in the west. Not that in the west the factor of a lower class did not arise. In Greece there were the Helots; in Rome the Plebeins; in France the Gauls; in England the Britons. In Germany alone, perhaps, the people were homogeneous. But in all these cases the lower classes were not racially very distinct from the higher and not very inferior in physical and mental capacities. In all these countries, therefore, they struggled to obtain political rights. For instance the persistent efforts of the Plebeians in Rome to obtain political and even social equality are well known and these struggles themselves were an education to the people. In India, on the other hand, especially in the north, the Dravidian lower classes were very inferior in capacities, and being different in complexion, features and habits remained distinct in position, social and political, and never struggled for equality of rights. Political power, therefore, gradually centered primarily in the higher classes, especially in the Kshatriyas and in the kings next. The king was invested with divine attributes in public estimation by superstition as well as by craft, and the despotic power of kings without any restriction by popular assemblies was eventually firmly established during the Buddhist period of Indian history.