Assertion: Besides the Four Varnas, there were several Jatis that existed around the 6th century BCE and the following centuries.

Reason: These Jatis were made by Brahamans and Kings to help the Shudras in their work.

Choose the correct statement from the given options:

The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

The correct answer is Option 4 - The Assertion is correct but the Reason is incorrect.

The REASON is incorrect as the Jatis were not created specifically to help Shudras with their work. The emergence of Jatis is a complex phenomenon with multiple contributing factors. The connection between Jatis and helping Shudras is not supported by historical evidence.

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. But there are exceptions. One interesting stone inscription (c. fifth century CE), found in Mandasor (Madhya Pradesh), records the history of a guild of silk weavers who originally lived in Lata (Gujarat), from where they migrated to Mandasor, then known as Dashapura. It states that they undertook the difficult journey along with their children and kinfolk, as they had heard about the greatness of the local king, and wanted to settle in his kingdom.