THE EAST IN MEDIEVAL TIMES 313

Vain too are the distinctions of caste.

All shades of colour are but broken arcs of light.

All varieties in human nature are but fragments of Humanity.

The right to approach God is not the monopoly of Brahmans,
but belongs to all who are sincere of heart.

Hindu India on the eve of the Muslim invasions had
been a congeries of warring states, like the Paramars of
Malwa, the Pratiharas of Kanouj, the Palas of Bengal, the
Solankis of Gujarat, the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan, the
Pallavas, Cholas and Pandyas of South India, etc. Though
we have necessarily to skip over these and many others,
we may note a few salient facts about them. North India
under the Pratiharas (c 700—1000 A.D.) and South India
under the Cholas (c. 900—1100 AD.) were about the only
two Hindu powers that came very near to achieving any-
thing like imperial unity. But even this was of an acciden-
tal and precarious nature being dependent upon personali-
ties like Mihira Bhoja, Nagabhata, Rajaiaja, and Rajen-
dra. However, within their limited spheres, each kingdom
maintained peace, fostered literature and industry, and prac-
tised religious toleration of a unique character. Jains,
Buddhists, Brahmanical and other Hindus lived for the most
part amicably with one another irrespective of the faith of
the rulers. The prosperity was so great at one time that
it stimulated enterprise and carried both Hindus and Bud-
dhists into distant lands like Burma, Indo-China, and the
Malay Archipelago. There a Greater India was created as
we have noticed before. Pagan, Pegu, Cambodia, Srivi-
jaya, Angkor, and Madjapahit proclaimed to the world the
glories of colonial India. The last named of these
kingdoms was extinguished only as late as the
close of the fifteenth century. Then it was swal-
lowed up by the growing Muslim state of Malacca.
But in their heyday the Hindus of Greater India