city in resisting the attacks of
Mohammedanism, and its small power of expansion beyond the seas are
explained by the fact that it is a mode of life as much as a faith. To
be a Hindu it is not sufficient to hold the doctrine of the Upanishads
or any other scriptures: it is necessary to be a member of a Hindu caste
and observe its regulations. It is not quite correct to say that one
must be born a Hindu, since Hinduism has grown by gradually hinduizing
the wilder tribes of India and the process still continues. But a
convert cannot enter the fold by any simple ceremony like baptism. The
community to which he belongs must adopt Hindu usages and then it will
be recognized as a caste, at first of very low standing but in a few
generations it may rise in the general esteem. A Hindu is bound to his
religion by almost the same ties that bind him to his family. Hence the
strength of Hinduism in India. But such ties are hard to knit and
Hinduism has no chance of spreading abroad unless there is a large
colony of Hindus surrounded by an appreciative and imitative
population[22].

In the contest between Hinduism and Buddhism the former owed the victory
which it obtained in India, though not in other lands, to this
assimilative social influence. The struggle continued from the fourth to
the ninth century, after which Buddhism was clearly defeated and
survived only in special localities. Its final disappearance was due to
the destruction of its remaining monasteries by Moslem invaders but this
blow was fatal only because Buddhism was concentrated in its monkhood.
Innumerable Hindu temples were destroyed, yet Hinduism was at no time in
danger of extinction.

The Hindu reaction against Buddhism became apparent under the Gupta
dynasty but Mahayanism in its use of Sanskrit and its worship of
Bodhisattvas shows the beginnings of the same movement. The danger for
Buddhism was not persecution but tolerance and obliteration of
differences. The Guptas were not bigots. It was probably in their time
that the oldest Puranas, the laws of Manu and the Mahabharata received
their final form. These are on the whole text-books of Smarta Hinduism
and two Gupta monarchs celebrated the horse sacrifice. But the
Mahabharata contains several episodes which justify the exclusive
worship of either Vishnu or Siva, and the architecture of the Guptas
suggests that they were Vishnuites. They also bestowed favours on
Buddhism which was not yet decadent, for Vas