ŚĀRĀDA DEVĪ (1853–1920) was the wife of Śri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886), a highly regarded Hindu spiritual master from Bengal, India. She is called the Holy Mother (Śrima) by the followers of Ramakrishna, who worship her along with her husband as a manifestation of the divine. By the end of Ramakrishna's life, his followers included some leading Bengali intellectuals. As he wished, Śāradā Devī became the chief source of spiritual and emotional support for his disciples after his death, when they began to establish a spiritual order in his name. Up to this point she had led her life in accordance with the Indian cultural ideal of a quiet and dutiful wife; however, she played a pivotal role in the burgeoning order with her piety, pragmatism, and motherly qualities. In the early twenty-first century...