From 300 CE to 1300 CE, Brahmins were seen as carriers of culture across a vast arc from Afghanistan to Vietnam. Regions adopted Sanskrit, and looked to them for knowledge of refinement—music, dance, architecture, food, and aesthetics. They functioned as transmitters of intellectual and cultural capital. That authority has eroded sharply. Today, Brahmins support goons who dismiss science, abuse English education, and reject critical inquiry. Public discourse is filled with pseudoscience, while political leadership includes figures with little engagement with scholarship. School dropouts who eat 'khaini' in parliament and use abusive language with pride. In this new world order, equality now means foul-mouthed violent hooligans are equated with pandits. The contrast with the earlier image is stark. Religious symbolism has also shifted. Saffron robes and sacred chants have entered arenas of power, commerce, and spectacle. Temples have are now seen as pure profit centres, and music and films are celebrated for making money rather than merit. The language of devotion is now all about spectacle and performance. The old ideal of Saraswati—knowledge, learning, discipline—has given way to Lakshmi—wealth, profit, accumulation. Authority has moved from scholar to trader, from teacher to financier. Power has followed money. Is this Ramrajya of Vashishta, Vishwamitra, or Agastya? It is a different order, though it is loudly proclaimed as continuity. We are told only "woke" people cannot see the beauty of sanatana dharma now visible in paliament. The dissonance is visible, even if denied. The tragedy lies in the collapse of intellectual responsibility. When those who once claimed stewardship of knowledge abandon it, the field is not just neglected—it is stripped, so that no one else may harvest it. -chanakya