‘study his philosophy and even preach it to Brah- ‘mans,
.At the same time the religion that was avowedly -eonstructed for the masses not possessing the necessary Sdédhanas or means to realize the Brahma of Sankara, . was Vedic by a fiction only and opened its gates to all ‘shades of castes and beliefs. Sir Henry Maine has shown how, in another branch of human literature, archaic communities have progressed by the help of fictions. I refer to his work on Ancient Law and to his ‘observations on Legal Fictions. The Romans, the Hindus, and even the English lawyers have devised legal fictions to attain progress in societies and under conditions which did not brook an open violation of existing belief. There has been asimilar procedure and asimilar use of fictions in order to make religious changes and advance in this country. The orthodox people dislike the idea of giving up any old state of things and the advanced party wish the contrary. The conflict exists between fathers and sons, husbands and wives. ‘he problem was solved among Christian nations by carrying the conflict to the bitter end, and we kuow how, in France, for instance, families were divided as between their own members on matters of religion and carried on internecine wars to get rid of the situation. In India the procedure adopted was peaceful and tended to preserve harmony.
