A new social category that emerged during this period was placed below the shudras in the social hierarchy and considered untouchables.

The Janas who migrated eastwards began to settle down in various regions. The loyalty of the people shifted from jana (tribe or clan) to Janapada (territory). Janapada literally meant the place where the tribe sets its foot upon.

A spirit of scepticism began to pervade questioning every custom and orthodoxy in the belief system in the society leading to rise of new ideas and faiths.

Jainism's insistence on non-violence closed other occupations, including agriculture, as it prescribed refraining from intended or unintended killing.

Carvakas developed the concept of scepticism and believed in the pursuit of knowledge through experience. They questioned the authority of Vedas.

Gana- sanghas or oligarchies, which were centred on clans. The richer landowners were called grihapatis. These landowners employed labourers called dasas or karmakaras. The smaller landowners were known as kassakas or krishakas. The society was stratified on the basis of varna. It emerged as a marker of status. Cultivators and artisans were identified as the shudras.

The mahajanapadas represented the emergence of territorial kingdoms that ruled over people (jana).

Jainisrn spread to Tamil Nadu from about the third century CE.
1. Jaina rock shelters are found in large numbers around Madurai and other places.
2. The Jaina temples is at Tiruparuthikunram near Kanchipuram with beautiful ceiling paintings.

1. Agricultural surplus, the growth of crafts and trade, and the growing population led to the emergence of towns in the Gangetic plains.
2. This is called the second urbanisation in Indian history.

Improvement in iron technology had widespread implications for the rest of the economy. Better tools like axes made more extensive clearing of forests possible for agriculture; better ploughs could improve agricultural processes; better nails and tools improved woodwork and carpentry.

1. Buddhism faced divisions from time to time. Division into various splinter groups like 'Hinayana', 'Mahayana', 'Vajrayana', 'Tantrayana' and 'Sahajayana' led Buddhism to lose its originality.
2. Pali and Prakrit were the spoken languages of people of north India and it was through these languages the message of Buddhism was spread. But ever since the times of Fourth Buddhist Council held during the reign of Kanishka, Sanskrit had come to be adopted.
3. Buddhism there upon became unintelligible to common people.

1. Right Views;
2. Right Resolve;
3. Right Speech;
4. Right Conduct;
5. Right Livelihood;
6. Right Effort;
7. Right Recollection;
8. Right Meditation.

About 500 years after Mahavira's death, in about 79 or 82 CE, a schism occurred in Jainism. Magadha was affected by severe famine and some of the Jaina monks under Bhadrabahu went south to maintain their strict discipline. They remained without garments and were known as Digambaras (space-clad or naked). Others stayed back under the leadership of Sthulabhadra and adopted a white garment and were known as Svetambaras (white-clad). The schism weakened Jainism in Magadha, but it foundardent followers in Gujarat, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Karnataka.

Kacchayana believed that the world was made of seven substances that were unmade, irreducible, uncreated, barren, stable as a mountain peak, standing firm like a pillar that do not alter, do not change, do not interfere with one another, are incapable of causing one another pleasure, pain or both pleasure and pain.The Ajivikas had rich lay disciples such as potters and bankers. The Ajivika sect spread across the length and breadth of the country, though their influence was much less compared to that of Buddhism and Jainism.