Brahmin revolt against the Buddhist Mauryas was driven by economic and occupational dispossession.

Evidence

Ambedkar (BAWS 3, 268) considered this Buddhist phase a ‘revolution’ in ancient India, and termed the re-emergence of Brahminism under the Brahmin king Pushyamitra Sunga (185–149 BCE) the ‘counter-revolution’: “The Brahmins had not only lost state patronage but they lost their occupation which mainly consisted of performing sacrifices for a fee which oftentimes was very substantial and which constituted their chief source of living. The Brahmins therefore lived as the suppressed and Depressed Classes for nearly 140 years during which the Maurya Empire lasted. A rebellion against the Buddhist state was the only way of escape left to the suffering Brahmins and there is special reason why Pushyamitra should raise the banner of revolt against the rule of the Mauryas.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 1129

Categorization

• DEFINE: Ambedkar’s framing of Buddhist rule as ‘revolution’ and re-emergent Brahminism as ‘counter-revolution’ is a distinctive periodization of Indian history central to the caste-annihilation argument.