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ence. The progress of the people, therefore, to a certain extent, has been greatly retarded.

In order to appreciate fully the present conditions, it is necessary to review the sources of power in the Maratha community.

The Brāhmaṇas are still a power, but their power is extremely limited. All the power they have is that of advisers. They can tell what is proper and what is improper. They can tell which actions and conduct have scriptural sanction, and which have not, but they cannot compel any other caste to do anything. They again have a power of conferring Vedic or Puranic sacraments, as they are the priests of the nation, but the possibilities of this power, and the good uses to which this power can be applied, are not yet fully realized by them.

For example, if the Brāhmaṇas become a well-organized body, they can assume for themselves the power of conferring the Vedic sacraments on anybody they think fit, and the Maratha society would be perfectly willing to acquiesce in this assumption if they used this power for the benefit of the society. They can lay down rules for the other castes requiring them to attain a certain standard of education, compel them to observe certain moral rules in order to gain the benefit of the Vedic sacraments. The situation to-day is somewhat pitiful. The other castes demand of the individual Brāhmaṇas or the Brāhmaṇas of a certain locality the right of the sacraments. Thus the other castes thrust upon the Brāhmaṇas a power which, though it once belonged to the ancient Brāhmaṇas, the Brāhmaṇas of to-day are afraid to assume.

At present they follow this rule. All Brāhmaṇas have the right to Vedic sacraments, and no other people have any