Caste, class and dissent

Challenges to religious orthodoxy often came from the disadvantaged. Merchants and craftsmen, though often affluent, were underprivileged compared with the Brahmins.

Buddhism and Jainism undermined the superiority of the priestly caste, with a 'levelling' message of equality.

In the Mahabharata, Bharadvaja answers Bhrigu, who defends caste divisions. Skin colour varies within every caste, he points out, and all people feel desire, anger, fear and hunger. So how can castes be different?

The Bhavisya Purana says that all human beings are children of the same father, so they cannot be of different castes.

In medieval times, poets influenced by the Bhakti and Sufi traditions rejected social and religious barriers. Many came from working families (Kabir was a weaver, Ravi-das a shoe-maker), and many were women (Mira Bai, Andal). Argument has been a tool of the underprivileged too.