There is reason for suspicion against people who need to trample upon natural loyalties before they can establish their brotherhood. It is like a sco… - Koenraad Elst

A historical view of caste, by contrast, concedes candidly that caste was intertwined with Hinduism for long, but equally shows that caste was initially absent and only intruded in stages. Hinduism can flourish all while letting caste wither away. That may satisfy at least the more fair-minded among Hinduism’s critics.

Indians may recall that such death sentences against people who have insulted the Prophet, have been carried out earlier this century: against Arya Samaj propagandists Swami Shraddhananda and Pandit Lekh Ram, and against Rajpal, the writer of the Rangila Rasool (more or less Playboy Mohammed). This was a book on the sex life of the Prophet and his wives, certainly insulting, and as a criticism of Islam rather beside the point, but understandable as a reaction against a similar vilifying Muslim pamphlet about Sita. These murders had the desired effect, for the Arya Samaj became less straightforward in its criticism of the Prophet.

By now, the whole notion of Aryan invasions has come under fire. Western scholars start recognizing what many Indian scholars have since long pointed out : that there is not a single piece of proof for the whole theory, and that all the known relevant facts can just as well be explained with alternative and equally coherent theories.