“If I recall correctly, there was one new essay on temple desecration in India.”

But y was it needed though? I dont recall any temple destruction (or memory related to it ) wrt Bengal. Perhaps some local memory.

I did not say it was dead. I said there was no caste hierarchy as such. Brahmins are found infrequently and are not at the top of the hierarchy. Rajputs are top dog where they dominate the population and similarly for Jats. In the Shyam Chaurasi area of Hoshiarpur, the backwards and Dalits make sure the others castes keep their heads down. The prejudice against Dalits continues; however, unlike elsewhere in India the Dalits fight back fairly successfully.

True in other parts of India as well. The Indian test cricketer Chandu Borde – who represented India between 1958 and 1969 – was Christian, for instance.

Interestingly Kripal Singh who also played Test cricket for India, was born Sikh and converted to Christianity and apparently practiced both religions thereafter.

Bengali Christians retained their Hindu names. I knew a Gautam Dutt a Nirmal Mukherjee and a Sankar De, and others who continued to have Hindu names despite converting generations ago.

They contended for power among themselves before the Sikh takeover after which they mostly allied with the Sikhs and after that with the British. There was no caste hierarchy as such.

Not just Amritsar; Jullunder, Hoshiarpur and even most of Gurdaspur (where Batala and Pathankot tehsils were Hindu majority and even Gurdaspur was only marginally not so). Lahore too was about equal with Lahore town actually Hindu majority, and initially awarded to India by Radcliffe before Justice Munir persuaded him to change his mind.

Lakshman Kadirgamar

Named after two Hindu Gods.
3rd gen Protestant Christian from fathers side. 4th or 5th gen Protestant Christian from mothers side.

Mother: Edith Rosemand Parimalam Mather. Mather is an American name.

Foreign Minister, 1994-2001. Mainly his effort to have LTTE banned internationally. Killed by LTTE sniper.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshman_Kadirgamar

Pedigree: can see the mix of Christian and Tamil Names.
https://ceylontamils.com/search/pedigree.php?individualID=5666

I have the book (an essay collection). It does NOT make the Dirks argument that “British created caste,” but it is convoluted and meandering.

The book should be seen as a reaction to dominant academic and popular discourse on Indian caste rather than something that posits its own hypotheses.