similar orders of the Jains and
other Kshatriya sects, was in its origin a protest against the
exclusiveness and ritualism of the Brahmans. Yet compared with anything
to be found in other countries the two bodies have something in common.
For instance it is a meritorious act to feed either Brahmans or
Bhikkhus. Europeans are inclined to call both of them priests, but this
is inaccurate for a Bhikkhu rarely deserves the title [549] and nowadays
Brahmans are not necessarily priests nor priests Brahmans. But in India
there is an old and widespread idea that he who devotes himself to a
religious and intellectual life (and the two spheres, though they do not
coincide, overlap more than in Europe) should be not only respected but
supported by the rest of the world. He is not a professional man in the
sense that lawyers, doctors and clergymen are, but rather an aristocrat.
Though from the earliest times the nobles of India have had a full share
of pride and self-confidence, the average Hindu has always believed in
another kind of upper class, entered in some sects by birth, in others
by merit, but in general a well-defined body, the conduct of whose
members does not fail to command respect. The _do ut des_ principle is
certainly not wanting, but the holy man is honoured not so much because
he will make an immediate return by imparting some instruction or
performing some ceremony but because to honour him is a good act which,
like other good acts, will sooner or later find its reward. The Buddha
is not represented as blaming the respect paid to Brahmans but as saying
that Brahmans must deserve it. Birth and plaited hair do not make a true
Brahman any more than a shaven head makes a Bhikkhu, but he who has
renounced the world, who is pure in thought, word and deed, who follows
the eight-fold path, and perfects himself in knowledge, he is the true
Brahman[550]. Men of such aspirations are commoner in India than
elsewhere and more than elsewhere they form a class, which is defined by
each sect for itself. But in all sects it is an essential part of piety
to offer respect and gifts to this religious aristocracy.

CHAPTER XII

ASOKA

1

The first period in the history of Buddhism extends from the death of
the founder to the death of Asoka, that is to about 232 B.C. It had then
not only become a great Indian religion but had begun to send forth
missionaries to foreign countries. But this growth had not yet brought
about