<P> Vivekananda similarly criticised caste as one of the many human institutions that bars the power of free thought and action of an individual . Caste or no caste, creed or no creed, any man, or class, or caste, or nation, or institution that bars the power of free thought and bars action of an individual is devilish, and must go down . Liberty of thought and action, asserted Vivekananda, is the only condition of life, of growth and of well - being . </P> <P> In his younger years, Gandhi disagreed with some of Ambedkar's observations, rationale and interpretations about the caste system in India . "Caste," he claimed, has "saved Hinduism from disintegration . But like every other institution it has suffered from excrescences ." He considered the four divisions of Varnas to be fundamental, natural and essential . The innumerable subcastes or Jatis he considered to be a hindrance . He advocated to fuse all the Jatis into a more global division of Varnas . In the 1930s, Gandhi began to advocate for the idea of heredity in caste to be rejected, arguing that "Assumption of superiority by any person over any other is a sin against God and man . Thus caste, in so far as it connotes distinctions in status, is an evil ." </P> <P> He claimed that Varnashrama of the shastras is today nonexistent in practice . The present caste system is theory antithesis of varnashrama . Caste in its current form, claimed Gandhi, had nothing to do with religion . The discrimination and trauma of castes, argued Gandhi, was the result of custom, the origin of which is unknown . Gandhi said that the customs' origin was a moot point, because one could spiritually sense that these customs were wrong, and that any caste system is harmful to the spiritual well - being of man and economic well - being of a nation . The reality of colonial India was, Gandhi noted, that there was no significant disparity between the economic condition and earnings of members of different castes, whether it was a Brahmin or an artisan or a farmer of low caste . India was poor, and Indians of all castes were poor . Thus, he argued that the cause of trauma was not in the caste system, but elsewhere . Judged by the standards being applied to India, Gandhi claimed, every human society would fail . He acknowledged that the caste system in India spiritually blinded some Indians, then added that this did not mean that every Indian or even most Indians blindly followed the caste system, or everything from ancient Indian scriptures of doubtful authenticity and value . India, like any other society, cannot be judged by a caricature of its worst specimens . Gandhi stated that one must consider the best it produced as well, along with the vast majority in impoverished Indian villages struggling to make ends meet, with woes of which there was little knowledge . </P> <P> B.R. Ambedkar was born in a caste that was classified as untouchable, became a leader of human rights campaigns in India, a prolific writer, and a key person in drafting modern India's constitution in the 1940s . He wrote extensively on discrimination, trauma and what he saw as the tragic effects of the caste system in India . He believed that the caste system originated in the practise of endogamy and that it spread through imitation by other groups . He wrote that initially, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras existed as classes whose choice of occupation was not restricted by birth and in which exogamy was prevalent . Brahmins then began to practise endogamy and enclosed themselves, hence Ambedkar defines caste as "enclosed class". He believed that traditions such as sati, enforced widowhood and child marriage developed from the need to reinforce endogamy and Shastras were used to glorify these practices so that they are observed without being questioned . Later, other caste groups imitated these customs . However, although Ambedkar uses the approach of psychologist Gabriel Tarde to indicate how the caste system spread, he also explains that Brahmins or Manu cannot be blamed for the origin of the caste system and he discredits theories which trace the origin of caste system in races . </P>

When did the varna system become rigid and hereditary