'After my arrival in India in 1965, I lived in the same house (Manresa) as Father Bulcke's in Ranchi, and he directed me in my study of Hindi and Sanskrit. Once a week we went for a 20-kilometre cycle ride, regularly overtaken by dangerous trucks. He told me he would cycle in the middle of the road: 'You still have a longer life to live than me.' This snehi, loving and humane Father Bulcke emerges beautifully in this book, as much as the great scholar and the ascetic Jesuit. The backdrop descriptions of his native Flanders, his Allahabad maika and the Ranchi guru-ship are most interesting. His hearing impairment made his life at times lonely, but he found a firm footing in spirituality, both Christian and Rama-oriented, although some may argue that the juxtaposition of Christ and Tulsidas as the idols of Bulckeji is too simplistic. The synthesis of Bulckeji's life in the conclusion is a remarkable piece of balanced scholarship.' Winand M.

Callewaert, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.