Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited

The Indian mystic Ramakrishna (1836-1886) profoundly influenced not only Hinduism in India but also Western interpretations of Hinduism. Ramakrishna has played a critical role in India's religious revival and the growing influence of Hinduism in the West. While he has generally been viewed in the past century as an exemplar who taught inter religious harmony and individual spiritual striving, this view was shaken with the publication of Kali's Child, with its provocative assertions of Ramakrishna's alleged "troubled" past and homoerotic proclivities.