These complexities are reflected in another term used in texts to refer to social categories- jati. In Brahmanical theory, jati, like varna was based on birth. However, while the number of varnas was fixed at four, there was no restriction on the number of jatis. In fact, whenever Brahmanical authorities encountered new groups- for instance, people living in forests such as the nishadas- or wanted to assign a name to occupational categories such as the goldsmith or suvarnakara, which did not easily fit into the fourfold varna system, they classified them as a jati. Jatis which shared a common occupation or profession were sometimes organised into shrenis or guilds.

We seldom come across documents that record the histories of these groups.

People living in forests were named in Brahmanical texts, Eklavya belonged to _____.

Nishadas

In fact, whenever Brahmanical authorities encountered new groups- for instance, people living in forests such as the nishadas- or wanted to assign a name to occupational categories such as the goldsmith or suvarnakara, which did not easily fit into the fourfold varna system, they classified them as a jati. Eklavya belonged to the Nishada category.

(Eklavya was a character in the Indian epic, Mahabharata. He was a young prince of the Nishadha tribe, who lived in the forest with his father. Eklavya was known for his exceptional archery skills, which he had developed through self-learning and practice.)

(The paragraph and the question is a previous year's question (Date: 2022-08-21) so we have tried to keep the explanation thorough as making changes in the question itself to make it self-explanatory may affect the understanding and difficulty of the question asked).