The wealth of biographical and autobiographical detail that we possess about the saints and savants of modern Hinduism stands in sharp contrast to the dearth of such material when dealing with similar figures in medieval and ancient Hinduism, whose achievements are known to us, but their lives barely so. In the case of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–86), the material is almost overwhelming. One would imagine that, with such a solid and comprehensive evidentiary resource base at their disposal, scholars would have achieved unanimity, or at least consensus, about the biographical and ideological profile of such a major figure; but this is not what seems to have happened. The connection between history and biography, between public achievement and private life, has proved elusive. Nowhere is it more evident than in the case of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
While such wealth of detail enables a stable biographical reconstruction of Ramakrishna's life (although with some reservations,...
