Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (5 September 1888, Tiruttani, now in Tamil Nadu – 17 April 1975) was an Indian philosopher and statesman who was the second President of India from 1962 to 1967. He was the first Vice President of India (1952–1962).
One of India's most influential scholars of comparative religion and philosophy, Radhakrishnan built a bridge between the East and the West by showing how the philosophical systems of each tradition are comprehensible within the terms of the other. He wrote authoritative exegeses of India's religious and philosophical literature for the English speaking world. His academic appointments included the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta (1921–1931) and Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at Oxford University (1936–1952). Radhakrishnan was knighted in 1931 but ceased to use the title "Sir" after India attained independence. Among the many other honours he received were the Bharat Ratna (1954) and the Order of Merit (1963). His birthday is celebrated in India as Teacher's Day on 5 September.
EARLY LIFE
Dr Radhakrishnan was born in a poor Telugu Brahmin family at Tiruttani India, now in Thiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu, 84 km to the northwest of Madras (now Chennai). Radhakrishnan wrote his thesis for the M.A. degree on "The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions".He was afraid that this M.A. thesis would offend his philosophy professor, Dr. Alfred George Hogg. Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chance rather than choice. Being a financially constrained student at the time, when a cousin, after graduating from the same college, passed on his textbooks in philosophy to Radhakrishnan, it automatically decided his academic course.Later on he felt deep interest in his subject and wrote many acclaimed works on philosophy, both Eastern and Western. Radhakrishnan was married to Sivakamu, a distant cousin, at the age of 16. As per tradition the marriage was arranged by the family. The couple had five daughters and a son, Sarvepalli Gopal. Sarvepalli Gopal went on to a notable career as a historian. Sivakamu died in 1956. They were married for over 51 years.
CAREER
April 1909,Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was appointed to the Department of Philosophy at the Madras Presidency College. Thereafter, in 1918, Radhakrishnan was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. By that time he had written many articles for journals of repute like The Quest, Journal of Philosophy and the International Journal of Ethics. He also completed his first book, The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. He believed Tagore's philosophy to be the "genuine manifestation of the Indian spirit". Radhakrishnan's second book, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy was published in 1920.
In 1921 he was appointed as a professor in philosophy to occupy the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. Radhakrishnan represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire in June 1926 and the International Congress Philosophy at Harvard University in September 1926. Another important academic event during this period was the invitation to deliver the Hibbert Lecture on the ideals of life which he delivered at Harris Manchester College, Oxford in 1929 and which was subsequently published in book form as An Idealist View of Life. In 1929 Radhakrishnan was invited to take the post vacated by Principal J. Estlin Carpenter at Harris Manchester College. This gave him the opportunity to lecture to the students of the University of Oxford on Comparative Religion. For his services to education he was knighted by George V in the June 1931 Birthday Honours,and formally invested with his honour by the Governor-General of India, the Earl of Willingdon, in April 1932. However, he ceased to use the title after Indian independence, preferring instead his academic title of 'Doctor'.
He was the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. In 1936 Radhakrishnan was named Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls College. In 1939 Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya invited him to succeed him as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU).He served as its Vice-Chancellor till January 1948.
AWARDS
Radhakrishnan was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1931.He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1938. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954 and the Order of Merit in 1963. He received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 1961 and the Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months before his death. He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University. In 1989, the university instituted the Radhakrishnan Scholarships in his memory. The scholarships were later renamed the "Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships".
Radhakrishnan was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature for five consecutive years from 1933–1937, although he did not win.
This week we celebrated teacher's day let's wish all our teacher's a very happy teacher's day. I would like to dedicate this article to every teacher who has helped me in buildingmy career.