Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/178

In order to explain the steps through which the European nations have ascended to Nationalism it may be well to compare the European nations with the Indians. One factor which did more than anything else to help the formation of the European nations, is the change from tribalism to territorialism of society. The importance of this factor has not been sufficiently appreciated by the sociologists, with the probable exception of the late Dr. Morgan, of Rochester, N.Y. It is this change which more than anything else prevented the growth of caste system in Europe. Social tribalism and social territorialism should be sharply distinguished from political tribalism and political territorialism. When subjection to a political authority is confined to a roving tribe, it is political tribalism, and when political authority is extended over a certain area, irrespective of the tribes therein, then it is political territorialism. When jurisdiction in many social matters by a certain head is extended over people in various parts, and when the political authority does not interfere with such social usages of those peoples, then it is a social tribalism. The Roman Catholic Church is a fine example of social tribalism. British jurisdiction over the British subjects in Oriental countries like China and Persia, and in the Native states of India, is an example of political tribalism. When any people in a land are governed by laws and customs restricted to the tribe, and if the political authority there does not enforce those laws and customs, then it may be called a social tribalism. It is the duty of the lovers of equality to discourage such tribalism, and to create territorialism at the same time.

Territorialism is not the final stage in the human evolu-