Page 154 - Hinduism

Philosophical discourses and pursuits were at first specially developed by the Ksatriyas, but they soon became the prerogatives of the Brahmins. The Chandogya and Kausitaki Upanishads illustrate these successive stages. A solution of the ultimate problems of life is outlined in the early Upanishads, and it takes the form of Monism, absolute (according to Sankaracharya) or modified (according to Ramanuja).
Filled with zeal for ‘This doctrine of the Unity’ or Interdependence of all life, a social order was founded. It is the considered opinion of historians that the great Epics represented the desired social order as having actually existed in the golden past; they put into the mouths of their heroes not only the philosophy but the theory of its application in practice. This is evident, above all, in the long discourse of the dying Bhisma in the Santiparva of the Mahabharata. The heroes themselves made ideal types of character for the guidance of all subsequent generations; for the education of India has been accomplished deliberately through hero- worship. In the Dharmashastra of Manu and the Arthashastra of Chanakya(perhaps the most remarkable sociological documents the world possesses) they set forth the picture of the ideal society, defined from the stand point of law. By these and other means they accomplished what has not yet been effected in any other country, in making
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