Laxmanshastri Joshi was a brahmin scholar and a passionate champion for religious and social reform. Unlike most brahmins, he went against the grain, helping Gandhi overcome the powerful upper caste Indians and helped bringing Dalits into the Indian mainstream. With courage and civility, he spoke out against Hindu orthodoxy, pointing to the heterodoxy and polemical debate in the immense sweep of Hindu religion. Like Tagore, he was one of India's renaissance men. 'Swimming Upstream' traces Laxmanshastri's life of scholarship, courage, his steadfast humanity, and his role in the making of a free, secular, modern, and democratic India.