What  are  the  limits  of  this  unity  ?  Under  what  condi-
tions and  at  what  stage  in  the  social  scale  does  one  cease
to  be  a  Hindu  ?  To  this  question  there  is  no  satisfactory
reply.  The  ancient  religion  excluded  the  Cudra ;  it  was
forbidden  to  reveal  to  him  the  Veda  and  to  offer  sacrifice
on  his  behalf.  The  Neo-Brahmanic  religions  indulge  in
none  of  these  peremptory  interdictions.  Eor  the  most
part,  they  profess  to  take  in  hand  the  cause  of  the  disin-
herited. The  Mahabharata  and  the  Puranas  must  have
been  composed  expressly  for  the  benefit  of  women  and
^udras,  those  excluded  from  the  Veda.^  There  is  no  express
and  regular  prescription  which  absolutely  debars  from  the
cultus  such  classes  of  the  population,  and  to  the  numerous
tirades  directed  against  the  impure  classes  which  the  lite-
rature of  the  different  epochs  contains  we  might  easily
oppose  an  almost  equal  number  of  professions  of  equality.
Finally,  we  have  seen  that  the  majority  of  the  sects  have
gone  a  great  way  in  their  protestations  against  distinctions
of  caste,  and  that  some  even  went  the  length  of  declarino-

^  Bh^gavata  Purana,  i.  4,  25.
