‘Vasanthi Srinivasan has brought to this analysis a remarkable set of tools, Western and Indian, and does not allow her warmth for Rajaji to silence disappointment with several of his positions. This work will be widely appreciated and will also set off useful debates.’

‘ ... Vasanthi Srinivasan’s able placing of Rajaji in a variety of different contexts—the economic arguments of his time, religious debates, and the deep question of justice for India’s womens and dalits—[suggests that] his views and actions demand more complex characterization. He was by turns, subversive, conservative, and radical. Through a series of fascinating studies of his writings as well as his practice, Dr Srinivasan elicits for us the fundamental coherence of Rajaji’s intellect and action. And she ably shows how, throughout, he sought to be a practitioner of that classically most prized and elusive of all political virtues—prudence, practical wisdom ... This is a book that anyone interested in our intellectual and political history will be eagerly grateful for. It is also a book full of insights, oblique and explicit, about our current political predicament.’

‘Dr Srinivasan’s study is a tour-de-force, exhibiting all the signs of a mature thinker who is confident of her intellectual and spiritual bearings, and who also exhibits a rich generosity of spirit without loss of critical judgement. In today’s world, where an excess of confidence in technology and atavistic returns to primordial roots pass as political sophistication, it is refreshing to be reminded of a politics grounded in statesmanship, practical judgement, and spiritual discernment. Rajagopalachari emerges from this study as an adept ruler of the first rank, with exceptional command of the political, moral, and spiritual resources needed to institute and sustain order.’