Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c9.10

c9.10

The lines of demarcation as well as the debates between the Vedic and non-Vedic philosophical systems — Cārvākas, Ājīvakas, Buddhists, Jainas — as well as the onslaught of philosophers like Madhva, Rāmānuja, Nimbārka and Rāmānanda within the orthodox philosophies as well as the Tantric cults need to be understood in a broad socio-cultural framework. When Dharmakīrti and other Buddhist philosophers were rejecting the whole concept of *jāti* as (generality) as a philosophical category, they were also challenging the concept of *jāti* in the sense of social hierarchy. The Tantric systems were also debating with the whole *varṇāśrama*-centric culture when they emphatically declared that after initiation in the cult, a śūdra no more remains a śūdra and a brāhmaṇa no more a brāhmaṇa. All distinctions based on caste are eliminated.⁴ Abhinavagupta in this context raises a voice of protest against those who believe in the caste hierarchy. He says: