esthood had bound the human
mind. The Brahmans thus established, not only a complete religious,
but also a social ascendancy which is only now beginning to break
down since the British Government has made education available to all.

3. Absence of central authority.

The Brahman body, however, lacked one very important element of
strength. They were apparently never organised nor controlled by
any central authority such as that which made the Roman church so
powerful and cohesive. Colleges and seats of learning existed at
Benares and other places, at which their youth were trained in the
knowledge of religion and of the measure of their own pretensions,
and the means by which these were to be sustained. But probably
only a small minority can have attended them, and even these when
they returned home must have been left practically to themselves,
spread as the Brahmans were over the whole of India with no means of
postal communication or rapid transit. And by this fact the chaotic
character of the Hindu religion, its freedom of belief and worship,
its innumerable deities, and the almost complete absence of dogmas
may probably be to a great extent explained. And further the Brahman
caste itself cannot have been so strictly organised that outsiders and
the priests of the lower alien religions never obtained entrance to
it. As shown by Mr. Crooke, many foreign elements, both individuals
and groups, have at various times been admitted into the caste.

4. Mixed elements in the caste.

The early texts indicate that Brahmans were in the habit of forming
connections with the widows of Rajanyas and Vaishyas, even if they
did not take possession of the wives of such men while they were
still alive. [401] The sons of Angiras, one of the great ancestral
sages, were Brahmans as well as Kshatriyas. The descendants of Garga,
another well-known eponymous ancestor, were Kshatriyas by birth but
became Brahmans. Visvamitra was a Kshatriya, who, by the force of
his austerities, compelled Brahma to admit him into the Brahmanical
order, so that he might be on a level with Vasishtha with whom he
had quarrelled. According to a passage in the Mahabharata all castes
become Brahmans when once they have crossed the Gomti on a pilgrimage
to the hermitage of Vasishtha. [402] In more recent times there are
legends of persons created Brahmans by Hindu Rajas. Sir J. Malcolm in
Central India found many low-caste female slaves in Brahman h