SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 161 



civilisation or state of society invariably conforms to 

 the religion with which it is associated. The amount 

 of civilisation achieved is, in fact, the amount of pro- 

 gress permitted by the religion, which, in most cases, 

 sets such limits to further progress as cannot be passed 

 unless the religion be first abandoned." Others again 

 make similar claims regarding the supreme impor- 

 tance of education, the system of government and social 

 organisation. There can be no doubt about the 

 influence of all these matters in the formation of 

 national character, but all that it is possible to do 

 here is to call attention to the fact that there exist in 

 India certain laws and customs which operate directly 

 against agricultural progress. Some of these have 

 already been mentioned, such as the law of inherit- 

 ance in the case of land, the religious obligations 

 towards cattle, and the caste objections to the use of 

 night-soil as manure. Others might be instanced 

 such as religious objections of some classes to take 

 the life of animals and insects which damage crops 

 in the field, and the obligation even to take active 

 measures to preserve the life of weevils which ruin 

 the grain in the storehouse. From a more general 

 point of view also we cannot omit a consideration of 

 the fact that in the Hindu system the joint family 

 and not the individual is the unit. Within the joint 

 family there is complete community of interests and 

 property. The members of the family are assured of 

 maintenance from the family funds not only for them- 

 selves but for as many children as they choose to 



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