India, Sept. 14 -- The Brahmin preacher does not always hide.

He may stand before the Hindu crowd and defend hierarchy openly.

He may speak of purity and pollution, tradition and order, custom and inherited authority.

His casteism may be visible.

His language may be unmistakable.

And perhaps that is why the modern Brahmin cultural theorist can sometimes become more difficult to confront.

Because the theorist does not necessarily arrive wearing the face of the traditional Brahmin defender.

He arrives with the vocabulary of critique.

S/He speaks of power. S/He speaks of discourse. S/He speaks of identity. S/He speaks of subalternity, leftism. S/He speaks of feminism, freedom. S/He speaks of Marxism, equity. S/He speaks of postmoder...