[fuzztester]

>Buddhism came about primarily as a response to Hindu orthodoxy and the caste system.

AFAIK, it did not. It came about from the Buddha's teachings, which were not about caste, but about suffering and its cessation via attaining nirvana (but I am not an expert on Buddhism; we only learned some about it in school).

My guess is that, instead, later, many people may have converted to it, maybe some due to orthodoxy.

I am talking about olden times. In recent times, neo-Buddhists definitely may have converted due to the caste system. I have read something about that earlier. See Dr. Ambedkar.

[soligern]

I can go into great detail on the back and forth between Hinduism and Buddhism, mostly surviving as dueling literature for centuries. I would prefer you just look it up though.

[fuzztester]

I would prefer you to understand that, in the absence of any objective measure, my sources are as good as yours, or, equivalently, yours are as bad as mine. But, based on what you wrote above, I doubt you can (understand).

Your above point itself proves what I said: "dueling literature"! Heh.