THE NARBADA VALLEY 43 



the accommodating pale of Hindiiism. Nor is this all. 

 Even such secondary forms of the regular gods of the 

 Brahmans receive but little of the real devotion of the 

 people, which is paid rather to tribal and village deities, 

 unheard of in recognised mythology, and to the Lares and 

 Penates of the householder. And these, the Brahman 

 priest, who is paid for his services, has no scruple in 

 recognising as orthodox. Superficial inquirers have quoted 

 Hfinduism as a faith which cannot admit of a proselyte; 

 but nothing could be more completely the reverse of the 

 truth. Anything in the way of new gods may be brought 

 by new worshippers within the pale of orthodoxy, pro- 

 vided only that they agree to accept the dominion of the 

 Brahman priest, together with the caste rules and ceremonial 

 by means of which he exercises his power. 



It was, then, with a race thus already modified, and 

 with a social and religious system which had thus already 

 engulfed the great mass of the indigenous nations of India, 

 and which was still ready to absorb in a similar manner 

 any number more of them, that the aborigines of Central 

 India came in contact. What has been the result will be 

 discussed in a future portion of this work. 



In a new country like this, few objects of antiquarian 

 interest attract the attention of the traveller. Allusion 

 has already been made to the traces of isolated settle- 

 ments of Aryans in the country, who had all been swept 

 away again, or had been absorbed in the indigenous 

 element surrounding them, before the true history of 

 the country opens ; and a few shapeless ruins still remain 

 to mark the sites of some of these settlements " in the 

 unremembered ages." Generally, however, even the 

 religious edifices, which in the East seem to outlast all 

 others, will be found to be of very modern date, and of 

 little pretension to interest. They will frequently be 

 met •with standing on the embankment of some water- 

 tank, covered with the lotus in full bloom, and shaded 

 by great trees of mango, tamarind, and fig. Very often 

 the camp will be pitched alongside of them, for the sake 

 of the fine shade; and the wild fowl and snipe that 

 frequent the tanks will probably form an attraction, to 



