The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c14.s9.t7.61

c14.s9.t7.61

In the atmosphere of this Maratha cult we are easily reminded also of the *Prince* (1513) of Machiavelli (1469-1527). The *imminente pericolo delle usurpazioni straniere* (imminent danger of foreign usurpation) of which the Italian treatise speaks is the fundamental consideration with Rāmdās and the other saints. The very title of the last chapter of the *Prince* is an "exhortation to liberate Italy from the Barbarians" (*Exortazione à liberare l'Italia da Barbari*). It is the war of self-defence for the people and culture of Mahārāṣṭra that furnishes the moral inspiration not only to these saints but also to Śivāji, constituting thereby the bed-rock of *Hindwī Svarājya*.