The Foundations of the Hindu Social Class System and its Critical Mystical Movements (Nāyanmārs)

Indian society has long been dominated by a strict social class system that was rooted in religious texts and teachings of the Vedic era. The importance and influence of this social hierarchy was to the extent that almost all Hindu religious sects and intellectual currents had grown up in this structure and had somehow accepted it. But a few ideas did not believe in it and violated even it, such as the Bhakti tradition of southern Śaivism, which was formed, by sixty-three Śaiva saints or Nāyanmārs, which was one of the most influential popular currents in the Middle Ages. Many of these saints were from the lower classes of society and for some three centuries promoted the teachings that led to the formation of the Bhakti movement. Their most notable features are the lack of adherence to class structure and human equality. Investigation the fundamentals of Caste beliefs and the opposing view of Bhaktas and Śaiva Nāyanmārs, are the main questions of this paper.