Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/107

Hindu society. These sects have, in fact, become tribes, socially separate to a certain extent, but not entirely. These religions have shown a tendency towards expansion, and the most noted of them is the Ārya-samāja. They do some missionary work, and as far as Ārya-samāja is concerned, every member of it is practically a missionary. Christians or Mohamedans who join these theophratries come from two classes: (i) some people become converted to this sect because they believe in the doctrines; (ii) in a number of cases when a Hindu wishes to marry a Christian woman, who is generally an Englishwoman, he gets her converted into that sect and marries her. These converts become members of these sampradāyas, religiously and socially, and therefore they also become members of the Hindu community.

The underlying principle is this: any caste considered as a Hindu caste has a right of determining who should be included as members. The Hindu community as a whole has nothing to do in this matter. Sympathy with a Hindu in religious ideas does not enable a man to become a Hindu. Admission of a man to the membership of the community is one thing, and converting a man to one's own belief is another thing. Conversion to religious ideas does not lead a man to the membership of the Hindu community.

As Hindu society is divided into a number of castes, membership of Hindu society cannot be obtained unless a man is admitted as a member of one of the castes. The castes do not suffer any control whatever by the Hindu community as a whole. The Hindu community is a federation, without central organization of any kind. So the whole Hindu community to-day cannot tell any particular caste whether any particular individual is eligible for ad-