Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/408

 compared with the truly regal power he wielded over men's minds. Nor was his success, to any extent, due to sailing with the current. In waging war against the all-powerful party of the Saktas; in deviating from the beaten track of the savants of the day; in riding rough-shod over caste and other cherished notions of the people; in discomfiting the Pantheists, a sect always in honour among the Hindus, Chaitanya was fighting against immense odds and touching his hearers at the tenderest points. His success was, therefore, entirely due to his genius as a prophet and to the purity of his life. He rose up in war against the favourite fashions of the day; and saved a whole country from decay and death. But, alas, how soon his influence has passed away! While seeing no reason to agree with a learned writer in his statement that "in reality the Vysnub class does not rank high; of men it only gets the refuse of society,and of women prostitutes", we cannot * but regret most sin-