How India's Caste System Was Locked In Place

A History of Mankind (246)

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The start of the Christian era in the West was in India an era of waning Jainist appeal, and one when Indian merchants first became attracted to that great, future rival of Christianity, Buddhism: the one influential religion that allowed the highest status to wealthy entrepreneurs, even if not always endowed with the shiniest ancestors’ trees, as long as they would fund charitable works and monasteries.