Sir D. Ibbetson drew attention to the fact that the rising of the
Marathas against the Muhammadans was almost the only instance in
Indian history of what might correctly be called a really national
movement. In other cases, as that of the Sikhs, though the essential
motive was perhaps of the same nature, it was obscured by the fact
that its ostensible tendency was religious. The _gurus_ of the Sikhs
did not call on their followers to fight for their country but for a
new religion. This was only in accordance with the Hindu intellect,
to which the idea of nationality has hitherto been foreign, while its
protests against both alien and domestic tyrannies tend to take the
shape of a religious revolt. A similar tendency is observable even in
the case of the Marathas, for the rising was from its inception largely
engineered by the Maratha Brahmans, who on its success hastened to
annex for themselves a leading position in the new Poona state. And it
has been recorded that in calling his countrymen to arms, Sivaji did
not ask them to defend their hearths and homes or wives and children,
but to rally for the protection of the sacred persons of Brahmans
and cows.