Religious conversion does not erase caste, which reforms around new groups

Evidence

88 He says this in the April 1899 issue of the journal Prabuddha Bharata, in an interview to its editor. In the same interview, when asked specifically what would be the caste of those who “re-converted” to Hinduism, Vivekananda says: “Returning converts … will gain their own castes, of course. And new people will make theirs. You will remember … that this has already been done in the case of Vaishnavism. Converts from different castes and aliens were all able to combine under that flag and form a caste by themselves—and a very respectable one too. From Ramanuja down to Chaitanya of Bengal, all great Vaishnava Teachers have done the same.” — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 507

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies that caste is re-created even through religious movements; Vaishnavism produced its own new caste rather than abolishing caste.
• QUESTION: This directly bears on whether Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism truly escaped caste or generated a new Buddhist caste identity.