<P> While there was an alignment between kulas and occupations at least at the high and low ends, there was no strict linkage between class / caste and occupation, especially among those in the middle range . Many occupations listed such as accounting and writing were not linked to jatis . Peter Masefield, in his review of caste situation in India states that anyone could in principle perform any profession . The texts state that the Brahmin took food from anyone, suggesting that strictures of commensality were as yet unknown . The Nikaya texts also imply that endogamy was not mandated . </P> <P> The contestations of the period are evident from the texts describing dialogues of Buddha with the Brahmins . The Brahmins maintain their divinely ordained superiority and assert their right to draw service from the lower orders . Buddha responds by pointing out the basic facts of biological birth common to all men and asserts that the ability to draw service is obtained economically, not by divine right . Using the example of the northwest of the subcontinent, Buddha points out that aryas could become dasas and vice versa . This form of social mobility was endorsed by Buddha . </P> <P> The Mahabharata, whose final version is estimated to have been completed by the end of the fourth century, discusses the varna system in section 12.181, presenting two models . The first model describes varna as a colour - based system, through a character named Bhrigu, "Brahmins varna was white, Kshtriyas was red, Vaishyas was yellow, and the Shudras' black". This description is questioned by Bharadvaja who says that colors are seen among all the varnas, that desire, anger, fear, greed, grief, anxiety, hunger and toil prevails over all human beings, that bile and blood flow from all human bodies, so what distinguishes the varnas, he asks . The Mahabharata then declares, "There is no distinction of varnas . This whole universe is Brahman . It was created formerly by Brahma, came to be classified by acts ." The epic then recites a behavioral model for varna, that those who were inclined to anger, pleasures and boldness attained the Kshtriya varna; those who were inclined to cattle rearing and living off the plough attained the Vaishya varna; those who were fond of violence, covetousness and impurity attained the Shudra varna . The Brahmin class is modeled in the epic as the archetype default state of man dedicated to truth, austerity and pure conduct . In the Mahabharata and pre-medieval era Hindu texts, according to Hiltebeitel, "it is important to recognise, in theory, varna is nongenealogical . The four varnas are not lineages, but categories ." </P> <P> Adi Purana, an 8th - century text of Jainism by Jinasena, is the first mention of varna and jati in Jainism literature . Jinasena does not trace the origin of varna system to Rigveda or to Purusha, but to the Bharata legend . According to this legend, Bharata performed an "ahimsa - test" (test of non-violence), and during that test all those who refused to harm any living beings were called as the priestly varna in ancient India, and Bharata called them dvija, twice born . Jinasena states that those who are committed to the principle of non-harming and non-violence to all living beings are deva - Brahmaṇas, divine Brahmins . The text Adipurana also discusses the relationship between varna and jati . According to Padmanabh Jaini, a professor of Indic studies, in Jainism and Buddhism, the Adi Purana text states "there is only one jati called manusyajati or the human caste, but divisions arise on account of their different professions". The caste of Kshatriya arose, according to Jainism texts, when Rishabha procured weapons to serve the society and assumed the powers of a king, while Vaishya and Shudra castes arose from different means of livelihood they specialised in . </P>

How has the caste system changed in india in recent history