It has been said that Buddhism came as a reaction to the corruption of the Vedic ideals that were governing the Indian society. The Vedic ideals which were governing society till then had become conventional and lost their inner force. As we have seen in the earlier chapter, the caste system had a high and noble goal; but now it tended to become hereditary, rigid and inelastic. At the same time the teachings of the Vedic Rishis were being applied in a more and more ritualistic and mechanical manner.