History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s21.8

v3.c41.s21.8

Various causes such as the growing ideas of purity of race and the adoption of vegetarian food by many communities under the revived influence of the doctrine of Ahimsā in this sub-period led each caste and sub-section of caste to isolate itself in food and marriage. The Hindu society consequently split up into hundreds of self-contained communities and thus lost its solidarity. The feeling of self-interest in the independence of the country as a whole was gone. Intermixture of blood by marriage in the previous sub-section kept up the idea of unity and interdining added its unifying quota of influence. Under the revived religious fervour of orthodox Hinduism again, it came to be considered that it was the duty and the privilege of the Kshatriya alone to rule. Indeed it is remarkable that all the different ruling families in India in this sub-period were Kshatriyas or claimed to be Kshatriyas. These ruling families, especially the Rajputs, formed themselves into a closed group under the same influence of caste solidification; and lost touch not only with the other varṇas but also with the agricultural Kshatriyas. The political apathy of the people became, therefore, phenomenal. It was believed that the kingdoms belonged to the kings as their private property and if the Rajput kings lost their property, the people had only to transfer their allegiance to the next owner, whoever that may be. The rights of kings were to be defended by the ruling clan whose privilege it was to rule. The peoples' duty was to obey any king whom God chose by giving him success in battle. The feeling of nationality thus completely died; and even among Rajputs, neither patriotism nor nationality remained but only the sentiment of loyalty. The Rajputs forgot that it was their duty to preserve the independence of the people of the kingdom. The only sentiment that remained or was appealed to in the Rajput soldier, was that of loyalty or service of the master who paid him; and as shown elsewhere, the Rajput soldiers were ready to die even for their Mahomedan king and master when the rule of the Ghaznavide Mahomedan kings was substituted for that of the Shahi Hindu kings of Kabul. It is, therefore, no wonder that the Hindu kingdoms of this sub-period were weak and that no national resistance was offered when the Rajput armies of Prithvīrāj and Jaichand were defeated in single battles and these two heroic kings were killed in the contest.