uns in 526 A.D. and the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni about 1000 A.D. which
was almost entirely free from foreign inroads, seems precisely the
period when the want of political ideas and constructive capacity was
most marked. Nor were the incursions always destructive and sterile. The
invaders, though they had generally more valour than culture of their
own, often brought with them foreign art and ideas, Hellenic, Persian or
Mohammedan. Naturally the northern districts felt their violence most as
well as the new influences which they brought, whereas the south became
the focus of Hindu politics and culture which radiated thence northwards
again. Yet, on the whole, seeing how vast is the area occupied by the
Hindus, how great the differences not only of race but of language, it
is remarkable how large a measure of uniformity exists among them (of
course I exclude Mohammedans) in things religious and intellectual.
Hinduism ranges from the lowest superstition to the highest philosophy
but the stages are not distributed geographically. Pilgrims go from
Badrinath to Ramesvaram: the Vaishnavism of Trichinopoly, Muttra and
Bengal does not differ in essentials, the worship of the linga can be
seen almost anywhere. And though India has often been receptive, this
receptivity has been deliberate and discriminating. Great as was the
advance of Islam, the resistance offered to it was even more remarkable
and at the present day it cannot be said that in the things which most
interest them Indian minds are specially hospitable to British ideas.

The relative absence of political unity seems due to want of interest in
politics. It is often said that the history of India in pre-Mohammedan
times is an unintelligible or, at least, unreadable, record of the
complicated quarrels and varying frontiers of small states. Yet this is
as true of the history of the Italian as of the Indian peninsula. The
real reason why Indian history seems tedious and intricate is that large
interests are involved only in the greatest struggles, such as the
efforts to repulse the Huns or Mohammedans.

The ordinary wars, though conducted on no small scale, did not involve
such causes or principles as the strife of Roundheads with Cavaliers.
With rare exceptions, states and empires were regarded as the property
of their monarchs. Religion claimed to advise kings, like other wealthy
persons, as to their duties and opportunities, and ministers became the
practical rulers