Page:On the education of the people of India (IA oneducationofpeo00trevrich).pdf/151

Rh learning of the Brahmins is not to be compared. Wealth, numbers, influence, are on their side. The movement is becoming more and more irresistible; and the power of directing the public mind is passing from those who have exercised it for the last two thousand years to an entirely new set of men.

Although the knowledge of Sanskrit is confined to the Brahminical caste, the Brahmins are by no means practically limited to a studious and religious life: the majority of them, perhaps, get their subsistence by secular pursuits. The number of persons, therefore, devoted to the study of Sanskrit is surprisingly small when it is closely examined: the number of those who study Arabic is still smaller. The following table, extracted from Mr. Adam’s report, shows the actual number of teachers and students of those languages, in five of the principal districts of Bengal and Behar: