The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c14.s1.2

c14.s1.2

It is with reference to all this *milieu* in life and institutions that Hindu political thought has to be understood. Unfortunately the impression has got abroad since Max Müller¹ wrote the *History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature* and *India: What Can It Teach Us?* that the literature of the Hindus deals mainly with vague idealism, unpractical mysticism, and other-worldly absurdities, — at best, with metaphysical philosophizing. Besides, a few alleged pessimistic passages from one or two Buddhist books in the Pali language are erroneously taken to be the watchword of all Hindu speculation.