Sardella's 'Modern Hindu Personalism' is a fantastic work of scholarship, providing as it does, a deeply insightful and highly lucid account of the life and thought of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, a key theologian of the Bengal School of Vaishnavism. The author contextualizes Sarasvati's contribution by situating it within a taxonomy of modern Hinduism: this is useful since it sheds important light on the way in which the subject's work interacted with alternate strands of Hindu thinking. Moreover, by juxtaposing Sarasvati's life and work with other leading thinkers of the Bengal Renaissance period, Sardella offers us a valuable insight into the methodologies employed by various leading thinkers of the period in their attempt to negotiate the colonial predicament that they all perceived their religion to be experiencing. By offering arguably the first systematic, scholarly, and critical account of the subject's 'history, life and thought', this book fills an unfortunate lacuna in the scholarship on this period. Moreover by presenting readers with an intimate portrayal of the various complexities experienced by Sarasvati in the his attempt to successfully revive the Chaitanya Vaishnava tradition, this book offers us a unique insight into the nature and politics of religious institution-building in colonial societies. Finally, by situating Sarasvati's work within the broader intellectual, cultural and political milieu of the time, Sardella offers us a penetrating glimpse into the various strands that contributed and continue to contribute to Hinduism's encounter with modernity. A fine work of scholarship, indeed!
