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Ramanuja

From: krish (krish_at_astro.ge.com)
Date: Mon Oct 23 1995 - 11:52:41 PDT 

Ramanuja and so were others who were great social reformers.
Thye lived in a world where industry as we know was absent.
The societ was feudalsitic and the economy was agricultural.
In countries like India, printing even was not common. Hence,
priestly class had a dominant part in the social groups.
So in their own way, they rebelled to point out that one need
not be bound by caste. Kapilar composed Tamil poetry 
rejecting caste-based distinction.
The same was true of the "padres" of Spain, however they
did not have the magnanimity to accept other faiths.
In that sense, some of the Acaryas of old times deserve
great esteem. 
Krish