Caste in India: The Facts and the System c5.8

c5.8

of religious life in ancient times; Brahmanic Hinduism as the legitimate descendant of purely Vedic elements, originating, perhaps, in a reaction against Buddhism, which was probably itself nothing more than the reaction of personal initiative against the dominant Vedism. Such is the formula which, although it has by implication often been shaken, and even at times contradicted, is still generally accepted. But I fear that it gravely distorts the perspective of the past.