Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/181

Rh India. Buddhism had decayed, and a very much modified form of the old Brahminism—the modern Hinduism—took its place. The Hindu (or Aryan) conquest of Southern India was completed probably about the beginning of the period, and Hinduism in one or other of its forms was dominant in all but the most remote hill-districts. After the rise of Islam, Arab invaders entered the Punjab, but made no permanent conquest. At the beginning of the eleventh century, however, Mahmud of Ghazni invaded the north-west repeatedly, and from that time forward Mohammedan dynasties gradually extended their sway over the Hindus of Northern India, and subsequently over much of the south.

The Dark Ages. This period is commonly given the title of 'The Dark Ages.' The rule of Rome had enforced law and order, even if often accompanied by corruption and oppression throughout the empire; life and property were generally safe. The break up of the empire left it under the changing dominion of barbarian tribes, among whom wars were never-ending; property was held only by the strong hand, and a precarious peace was to be found only in the monasteries. The barbarians adopted Christianity, but to a great extent their own heathen superstitions were incorporated in their new religion; the Church, the one civilising influence, was inclined to go very far in its concessions to prevailing creeds, in order to bring their adherents within the possible range of its own influence. It was only in the monasteries that literature, science, and all peaceful arts could be practised, and inevitably the one aim with which those pursuits were followed was that of increasing ecclesiastical influence. Hence, intellectually, the world stood still or retrogressed; there was more progress among the Mohammedans than in the Christian nations. Serfdom was the form taken by slavery in the new communities. It was an essential part of feudalism. The characteristic distinction between slavery and serfdom or 'villeinage' was that the slave was the owner's absolute property, the villein had certain rights, and was attached to the soil. That is, he was obliged to serve the landholder on whose soil he lived. He could not be sold, but he could not transfer himself from one land-holder to another. The conquerors did not carry off the conquered into captivity after the fashion of Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar; they remained, took possession of the soil, and compelled the conquered to till it for them, giving them a proportion of the produce, but requiring from them various other services besides the cultivation of the plots on which they were