Question: Is there a pre-colonization “Indian” culture? I’m thinking not. The British unified disparate cultures, kingdoms, and races for ease of administration/exploitation. The country is so large - but more importantly- so different, that I don’t see how these tensions will disappear anytime soon.

Religion vs culture is a subtle but important difference. Religiously, India is not very diverse, but culturally- that is, along ethic, language and racial lines - it is probably the most diverse country in the world. I never claimed the Brits united India culturally (except perhaps over a shared hatred of the colonizer?), but rather administratively (which continues today)

There is literal process studied by sociologists called Brahmanization where local elites were coopted and admitted to caste

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