Page:The Renaissance In India.djvu/49

 inner direction has found its way and its implications have come to the surface, the result will be no mere Asiatic modification of western modernism, but some great, new and original thing of the first importance to the future of human civilisation. This was not the idea of the earliest generation of intellectuals, few in number but powerful by their talent and origina-tive vigour that arose as the first result or western education in India. Theirs was the impatient hope of a transfor-mation such as took place afterwards with so striking a velocity in Japan ; they saw in welcome prospect a new India modernised wholesale and radically in mind, spirit and life. Intensely patriotic in motive, they were yet denationalised in their mental attitude. They admitted practically, if not in set opinion, the occidental view of our past culture as only a half-civilisation and their governing ideals were borrowed firom the west or at least centrally inspired by the purely