In the given question, a statement of Assertion is followed by a statement of Reason. Mark the correct answer. 

Assertion: Bhakti traditions differed from the orthodox Brahmanical framework.

Reason: Bhakti traditions accommodated and acknowledged women and the “lower castes”.

Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct and the Reason is the correct explanation of the Assertion.

While Brahmanas remained important intermediaries between gods and devotees in several forms of bhakti, these traditions also accommodated and acknowledged women and the “lower castes”, categories considered ineligible for liberation within the orthodox Brahmanical framework. What also characterized traditions of bhakti was a remarkable diversity.