6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

STH GLORIOUS EPOCH 159
unifying force with a certain consciousness of its true self*^.
388-A. This powerful unifying national sentiment which
so unmistakably held together these different and apparently
autonomous elements of the Hindu society and fused them
together was ;
Hindutwa ! And Hindudharma.
389. What we should like to call to-day the seven
native shackles [viz. Untouchability (?q^^^) ban on dining
together of the people belonging to different castes (^'^c'^),
ban on inter-caste marriages and so on] did never
appear to be shackles or fetters to the Hindus of those times,
when the Muslims had begun invading India. To them they
were but the charmed amulets or protecting bands ! Every
caste, whether of the Brahmins or of the sweepers was
immensely proud of its separate entity.
390. These various castes and sub-castes of the Hindus
punished even the slightest violation of the caste-laws with
social ostracism**—even if such a violation of caste-law was
voluntary or involuntary, knowingly or unknowingly !
391. Today we are apt to take this social ostracism
quite lightly: but at the time of Muslim aggressions and
thereafter, the very mention of such social ostracism would
have unfailingly shocked to death every Hindu—whether he
was a prince or a pauper : To be cut off from one's own caste
was to be cut off from the whole world and from life itself.
So severe was this punishment of social boycott that the
unfortunate person at once lost his parents and brothers,
his kith and kin^—the people of his own flesh and blood—and
was thrown into abysmal gloom. It should be sufficient to say
here briefly that this social ostracism was far more dreaded
than any physical torture or a heavy fine involving any
financial loss or even death. Consequently the tendency to
observe scrupulously, and in strict conformity with the
prevalent social practices, the traditional caste-laws, sanc­
tioned by the sacred religious books and the writers of the
various Smritis, was ingrained into the very texture of the
Hindu society for generations together*^.