ABSTRACT
A few anti-caste movements such as the Dravida Kazhagam in the south were explicitly atheist, and saw caste in missionary fashion as part of a great edifice of superstition which called out for destruction as a whole. The Brahmo Samaj itself was composed virtually entirely of members of the higher castes who could see no advantage and very considerable problems arising if they ostentatiously broke caste and cut themselves off effectively from contact with Hindu society. Another response to the problem of the depressed was that of Dayananda Saraswati and his Arya Samaj. Mahatma Gandhi's position seems to start from a kind of conflation of Vivekananda's and Saraswati's views. He affirms varna, seeks to reform caste, and assails untouchability as an excrescence on Hindu society. A restoration of varna is almost beyond the bounds of possibility in modern India, and philosophical attacks on caste do no damage to an institution which is ever anew demonstrating its amazing resilience and adaptability.
