Varna (varṇa)

Varna is the fourfold division of society into brahmana, kshatriya, vaishya and shudra, presented in the Bhagavad Gita as arising from qualities and actions rather than from birth alone. The Mahabharata quotes the birth-based version constantly and then undermines it with equal persistence: Karna is refused a contest for being a charioteer's son, Eklavya loses his thumb for excelling above his station, and a butcher and a merchant deliver two of the epic's finest discourses on dharma. Yudhishthira tells the python that a person is known by conduct, not by descent.