"This study of the remarkable life of Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) was penned by sociologist Kosambi (d. 2015; SNDT Women's Univ., Mumbai). Ramabai was born in Karnataka, India. With her brother, Shrinavas, with whom she was educated on an equal basis, she continued the work of their father, Anant Dongre (c. 1796–1874), who had founded a residential ashram that educated Brahmin boys in Sanskrit studies. The siblings traveled around India giving lectures, and in Calcutta, she received the title Pandita (learned master) for her Sanskrit learning. Her brother died in 1880, but she continued the work, establishing an international reputation as a social reformer, feminist, and Sanskrit scholar; her studies had begun when she was nine. She married a Bengali in 1880 in a controversial intercaste marriage, but he died two years later, leaving her with a daughter, Manorama. Her international fame came about with her travels to England and the US, her conversion to Christianity, and the publication of her warmly received feminist tract, The High-Caste Hindu Woman (1887). An excellent analysis and record of Ramabai with a selection of seven of her writings." Summing Up: Essential. -- R. D. Long, Eastern Michigan University, in CHOICE