 The rebels were 17th century followers of Kabir's radical social ideas, a small and short-lived peasant community that eschewed caste, religious and gender divides.They rose in revolt in 1672 against the social oppression and economic exploitation of the time, and managed to set up their own administration in a few towns and villages south of Delhi before being crushed by the Mughal armies.Kanekar has said that "the experience of writing it has been very different from the first, mainly because there are far more historical records and sureties for the background of the Mughal period than the Buddha's time, but hardly any materials on the protagonists; these rebels are almost as unknown and unheard-of as the "Buddha" is a legend."