In The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism, bestselling author and parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor turns the spotlight on one of modern India’s most influential yet under-recognised spiritual and social reformers—Sree Narayana Guru. Placing the Guru alongside figures such as Swami Vivekananda, B. R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi, the book seeks to correct a long-standing historical neglect of his transformative role in reshaping Hindu thought and social practice.

Reimagining Hinduism Beyond Caste

Born in 1855 in Travancore (present-day Kerala) to an Ezhava family, then deemed “untouchable”, Sree Narayana Guru rose from the margins to become a revered sage with millions of followers. Tharoor traces this extraordinary journey while foregrounding the Guru’s radical challenge to caste hierarchies. Through the consecration of temples open to all castes, the founding of educational institutions, and a lifelong commitment to social equality, the Guru worked to dismantle entrenched structures of exclusion.

Blending biography with social history, the book presents Sree Narayana Guru as both mystic and moderniser—one whose spiritual universalism carried profound political and social consequences. The work adds a significant new dimension to contemporary discussions on religion, reform, and equality in India.

The Sage Who Reimagined Hinduism reinforces Tharoor’s growing body of writing on India’s constitutional, social, and intellectual traditions.