Book Review question', indeed going very close to the kamini-kanchan-chakri/ Kaliyuga theme. He emphasises Vidyasagar's idea of defending widow-remarriage on the basis of sastric references - a strategy adopted even in pre-colonial times - to stress the continuity factor. His strategy was undermined by the fact that it could not go beyond the framework of the male 'protector', seeking to defend the 'weak' women. It was however marked by an insecurity of the 'over independent' woman and was untainted by egalitarianism. Whereas one can agree with Sarkar with regard to the continuity aspect, its difficult to ignore the breaks with the advent of 'humanism' and the way these issues entered into the public domain in the nineteenth century. Although Vidyasagar's ideas and reformatory practices were largely shaped by the immediate setting, its indeed difficult to locate things 'linearly' from Manu to Vidyasagar - ignoring the dialectics of 'humanism' and its 'arrival' in colonial Bengal. Its of course another matter if some scholars attribute it entirely to the simplistic category of western impact/impulse/education. Is it inevitable to see both as exclusive, either/or components, ignoring interactions? Ruptures were impossible in the absolute sense and in fact this chapter illustrates the dialectic of both continuities and the breaks, along with the ambiguities, silences and contradictions they posed. And, given this, it weaves together - fascinatingly - the complexities of colonial Bengal. The last chapter on colonial Bengal - 'Kaliyuga, Chakri and Bhakti: Ramkrishna and His Times' - explores Ramkrishna's Kathamrita. He is clear about the 'limited help' of binaries like elite/popular, city/ country and bhadralok/peasant 'in exploring the tensions that structure the Kathamrita'. What is attempted is not just a de-construction of a text - a biographical account by one of Ramkrishna's bhadralok disciples - but also of print-culture. Western education and the world of Calcutta's bhadralok in the nineteenth century. Sarkar examines the bhadralok construction of Ramkrishna, delineating the negotiation of apparent opposites - a rustic and his interaction with the 'refined' and 'enlightened' world of the bhadralok. These paradigms offer clues to understand the bhadralok's fascination for Ramakrishna. Sarkar is very clear about a non-homogenised presentation of either the bhadralok or the cult - which is sometimes located as a 'religion of urban domesticity'. He tells us about the craving for recognition by zamindars and the importance attached to a "meeting with Vidyasagar. His interaction with Tantric cults and with those 'low' in the hierarchy of caste are examined. He touches