Sandhyavandana is the obligatory daily rite of the twice-born and the clearest measure of how much of classical Hinduism has quietly lapsed. It is short — water, breath control, a hymn to the sun, and the Gayatri counted on the joints of the fingers — and it is owed three times a day, at the sandhyas where day and night change over. Brahmin men of an older generation still keep it, sometimes on a train platform; among their grandchildren it is rare, and among the many Hindus who never received the thread it was never available in the first place. That last point matters: this is not the daily religion of most Hindus and never was. The Gayatri itself has meanwhile escaped the rite entirely — it is on ringtones, sung by playback singers, printed on lorries, and taught to women and to anyone who wants it by reform organisations, which the orthodox position never permitted.