Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/105

II.] this celebrated work. He quotes chapter and verse from Manu, Yājñavalkya and a host of ancient sages in support of his views with regard to very small matters. A giant's labour was given to the raising of a mole-hill. The point that puzzles an enquirer, is how to account for the iron grip in which these rules, occasionally so puerile, have held the orthodox Hindu community for centuries. A devout Hindu would consult the Çāstras to know if on a particular day he could eat a certain vegetable. If in the month of Māgha a person takes radish, he will be pronounced a non-Hindu. What could be the reason that made people submit to such laws with religious veneration?

To answer this question, we must survey our social condition during the decline of Buddhism. The great vice, which undermined the unity and strength of our society in the last days of Buddhism, was that of free-thinking carried to excess. The Buddhists preached:—

"There is no heaven, no hell, no vice, no virtue. None created the world, none has the power to destroy it. No other evidence is to be recognised than what appeals directly to our senses. There is no soul, our body alone is subject to pleasure and pain—the result of good and bad actions. When we see that children are produced by the agency of parents, clay models by potters, and pictures by painters, such evidence is enough to shew how things come into existence. Then why should we ascribe them to an imaginary Creator? Don't