merely Hindu in character; it was
distinctly "Brahminical" as well. More and more the Brahmins became the
driving-power of the movement, seeking to perpetuate their supremacy in
the India of the morrow as they had enjoyed it in the India of the past.
But this aroused apprehension in certain sections of Hindu society. Many
low-castes and Pariahs began to fear that an independent or even
autonomous India might be ruled by a tyrannical Brahmin oligarchy which
would deny them the benefits they now enjoyed under British rule.[197]
Also, many of the Hindu princes disliked the thought of a theocratic
regime which might reduce them to shadows.[198] Thus the nationalist
movement stood out as an alliance between the Brahmins and the
Western-educated _intelligentsia_, who had pooled their ambitions in a
programme for jointly ruling India.

Quickened by this ambition and fired by religious zeal, the nationalist
movement rapidly acquired a fanatical temper characterized by a mystical
abhorrence of everything Western and a ferocious hatred of all
Europeans. The Russo-Japanese War greatly inflamed this spirit, and the
very next year (1905) an act of the Indian Government precipitated the
gathering storm. This act was the famous Partition of Bengal. The
partition was a mere administrative measure, with no political intent.
But the nationalists made it a "vital issue," and about this grievance
they started an intense propaganda that soon filled India with seditious
unrest. The leading spirit in this agitation was Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
who has been called "the father of Indian unrest." Tilak typified the
nationalist movement. A Brahmin with an excellent Western education, he
was the sworn foe of English rule and Western civilization. An able
propagandist, his speeches roused his hearers to frenzy, while his
newspaper, the _Yugantar_, of Calcutta, preached a campaign of hate,
assassination, and rebellion. Tilak's incitements soon produced tangible
results, numerous riots, "dacoities," and murders of Englishmen taking
place. And of course the _Yugantar_ was merely one of a large number of
nationalist organs, some printed in the vernacular and others in
English, which vied with one another in seditious invective.

The violence of the nationalist press may be judged by a few quotations.
"Revolution," asserted the _Yugantar_, "is the only way in which a
slavish society can save itself. If you cannot prove yourself a man in
life, play the man