The power of superstition is so mind boggling - people who were powerful and militarily organized, rulers of the land, ready and willing to die to defend their land, meekly surrendered to a bunch of bullshitters coming from outside (especially in Kerala where brahminism came in very late) whose only skill is that they can memorize and regurgitate a bunch of made up verses in a made up language. I can never comprehend how stupid these local rulers were to accept the tag of Kshatriya or Shudra from these parasitic brahmins. Their only contribution to society was to live like leaches off of the labor of the others, ensuring that the rest of the population would be kept illiterate and bound in superstitions that suited their exploitation. Without the bogus religious strictures set up by the Brahmins I feel there would have been more mobility between social strata like in other parts of the world. Priestly class of all religions is parasitic and evil, but Brahmins managed to create a social slavery system that has lasted the longest.