Which statement best describes social differentiation in the Rigvedic material?

Rigvedic hymns reflect distinctions of status, lineage, ritual role and occupation. The Purusha Sukta names four varnas, but historians debate its chronological position and warn against projecting the later hereditary caste order unchanged onto the entire Rigvedic period. Status and occupation mattered, while later hereditary varna rigidity was not yet fully developed fits that evidence because it matches the specific chronology, agency and function contained in the question. A comparison with the alternatives is useful: A completely fixed caste system already governed every group, No social distinctions existed and Only kings had occupations are genuine historical terms or names, but each belongs to a different office, patron, text, region or sequence. Reading the question as a relationship among person, period, place and institutional purpose prevents that mistake. The supporting source also helps separate later textbook shorthand from the more precise historical formulation. The compact memory link is therefore Status and occupation mattered, while later hereditary varna rigidity was not yet fully developed together with the factual context above, not the isolated option letter.