The Menace of Hindu Imperialism’ has set men a-thinking in many ways. The first edition has gone into distant corners of the globe and influenced the opinions of persons who wield power over the destinies of nations. The crusade against the Hindu Castes’ has assumed not only national but global significance. It is an achievement of which any Publisher can be proud. We wish we could give the’ reader an idea of the fanatical antagonism it has provoked from among the Brahmans generally. Some exceptionally bold and free spirits like Sir T. B. Sapru have expressed their admiration for the unique contribution made by the distinguished author. But Brahman reviewers of the Indian Social Reformer of Bombay, the Bombay Chronicle and the Hindu of Madras represent the incorrigible mentality of that community by their unreasonable and grotesque effusions. The author took pains to explain that his attacks were directed not against any individuals or groups of individuals but against a huge system and the champions of that system, and among the latter he categorically included ‘ Kshatriya Rajas and others who supported Brahmanism. We hold with the author that Brahmans as the leaders and guardians of Brahmanism are as responsible for its devastating con-sequences as the British people are responsible for the irretrievable injustices of British Imperialism. There is no remedy short of complete extirpation of these wicked exploitations. Some ‘well-meaning critics have suggested that Brah-man Imperialism would have been a more appropriate title. The Ainrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta actually re-viewed the book under this heading. We do not agree. Brahman Imperialism has become the accepted scheme of Hindu life. All Hindus must own responsibility for its preservation. The Depressed Classes, the Muslims and other non-Hindus can make no distinction between Brahmanism and Hinduism. The entire Hindu order stands condemned in their eyes, and they are right. The distinction, if any, between Brahmanism and Hinduism is only academical. They are at present so closely integrated that no difference exists in reality. Moreover it is the ‘non-Brahmans numbering hundreds of millions who really constitute the power and sanction behind Brahmanism. The author’s choice of the title has therefore been unquestionably correct. Others have pointed out that most great reformers of the Hindus arose from among the Brahmans. It is true, and no one disputes the fact. It speaks volumes for the ‘intellectual superiority of the Brahmans. But intellectual superiority applied to the suppression and destruction of the growth and aspirations of fellowmen is worse than ‘Nazi brutality. Brahman superiority is guilty of this unforgivable crime; It is even I now as incapable of appreciating the value and dignity of I man as man as a thousand years ago; and Brahmanism today is the chief cause of all the political deadlocks that face one in India. Brahmanism divided the Indian peoples into hundreds of untouchable groups, and it is now preparing the stage for bodily splitting the country into Hindu and Muslim halves. It cannot do anything else. It must either destroy itself or destroy Hindu society by driving out one by one its constituent elements and by destroying the Political integrity of India, unless extraneous forces interfere and crush it out of existence. If any Brahman was ever great, he became great because he renounced and denounced Brahmanism and to that extent he so ceased to be a Brahman. Never otherwise. Raja, Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayananda and Rabindranath Tagore are only a few instances.
We have added a few very suggestive Appendices and an Index to the second edition. We have also given at the end some outstanding opinions and reviews on the first edition to show the worth of the author’s contribution to contemporary literature on India.
