Claim 4 of 5 · Case 15 · Hinduism
Caste has deep roots in Hindu scripture and was defended by karma, and it has also been challenged from within Hinduism, so it is a live argument the tradition has never fully settled.
One claim from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Caste, the hereditary ordering of society into ranked groups, has long been bound up with Hinduism. The Rig Veda’s Purusha hymn describes society’s divisions emerging from a cosmic being, and later law texts like the Manusmriti codify duties and restrictions by birth. Karma and rebirth were used to explain one’s caste as the fruit of past lives. At the same time caste has been fiercely challenged from within: the reformer B. R. Ambedkar, himself born into an untouchable community, attacked it and eventually left Hinduism, and modern India constitutionally abolished untouchability. Many Hindus today reject caste discrimination outright. It is fair to present caste as scripturally rooted and as internally contested, not as the whole of Hinduism or as absent from it.
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The scriptural roots and Ambedkar’s critique
Presenting both the roots and the internal critique keeps the account honest. It avoids both the smear that Hinduism is nothing but caste and the whitewash that caste has no scriptural connection.