Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, The Second President of India

-
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the second president of India. He was a true statesman and a philosopher. He also served as the first vice-president of the newly independent India. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India. His birthday, 5 September is celebrated as "Teachers' Day" every year in India. Radhakrishnan was considered one of India's best and most influential twentieth-century scholars of comparative religion and philosophy. 

Early Life and Education

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5 September in 1888 at Thiruttani, Madras Presidency, British India (now in Tamil Nadu, India). His father was Sarvepalli Veeraswami and his mother was Sitamma. He belonged to a Brahmin (Niyogi) Telegu speaking family. Radhakrishnan's father was a subordinate revenue official in the service of a local landlord. His family was from Sarvepalli village in the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. 

Radhakrishnan's early years were spent in Thiruttani and Tirupati. He got his primary schooling from the K.V. High School at Thiruttani. Then he was moved to the Hermannsburg Evangelical Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati and the to the Walajapet Government Higher Secondary School.

Then he joined Voorhees College in Vellore for his high school education. After completing his F.A. degree he joined the Madras Christian College at the age of only 16. He also completed his master's degree from the same college. 

Young Radhakrishnan was not happy with the behaviour and treatment of Hinduism by western countries and some missionary institutions in India. He always considered him as a proud Hindu. So he decided to study Indian Philosophy and religion to give a reply to the westerns.  

Radhakrishnan had a firm belief in the ethics of the Vedanta. He thought that it's a philosophic fashion to consider the Vendanta system a non-ethical one. He explained how this philosophy requires people to look upon all creations as one. This is how the spirit of "Abheda" was introduced. 

Radhakrishnan was married to Sivakamu at the age of only 14. The couple had five daughters.


Career

Academic

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is a versatile character indeed. He was a successful academic personality as well. He served different institutions as an academic pioneer throughout his lifetime.
  • In 1909, he was appointed as a teacher to the Department of Philosophy at the Madras Presidency College.
  • In 1918, he joined as a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mysore.
  • In 1921, he was appointed as a professor in Philosophy at the University of Calcutta.
  • In 1929, Radhakrishnan was invited to take the post vacated by Principal J. Estlin Carpenter at Manchester College. 
  • He was the vice-chancellor of Andhra University from 193 to1936.
  • He also served as the vice-chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University.
Radhakrishnan had written a lot of articles for journals of repute like The Quest, Journal of Philosophy and the International Journal of Ethics. He also wrote two famous books of Philosophy The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore and The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy. He also attended various conferences worldwide and got the opportunity to present lectures in front of world-famous philosophers and students.

Political

Radhakrishnan was not very much interested in politics from his early days. Rather he always focused on his studies and always tried to serve as the best for his students. His international recognitions helped him to get entry to a larger scale of life through politics. 

In 1931, he was nominated to the League of Nations Committee for Intellectual Cooperation. After India's independence, Radhakrishnan represented India at UNESCO. He also served as the Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union from 1949 to1952.

In 1952, Radhakrishnan was elected as the first vice-president of India and elected as the second President of India in 1962. He served this post till 1967.

He was never a true politician. But his recognitions and visions as a true nationalist led him to the utmost success in his political career. 


Philosopher

Radhakrishnan tried to bridge eastern and western thought defending Hinduism against uninformed Western criticism. He was one of the most prominent spokesmen of neo-Vedanta. He interpreted Advaita Vedanta for a contemporary understanding. He saw Hinduism as a scientific religion based on facts, apprehended via intuition or religious experience. 

Radhakrishnan qualified the variety of religions hierarchically according to their apprehension of religious experience and classified religion into five sections where he gave Advaita Vedanta the highest place. To him, Advaita Vedanta was the best representative of Hinduism. He believed that Vedanta offers the most direct intuitive experience and inner realisation, which makes it the highest form of religion. 

The way he followed to defend Hinduism is highly influential till now both in India and the western world. This helped Indians to build a nation-state. In the Western world, Radhakrishnan's interpretations of the Hindu tradition, and his emphasis on spiritual experience, made Hinduism more readily accessible for western audiences. 

Honours and Recognitions

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was such a personality that no award or recognition could justify him. His works were recognized globally. Not only a philosopher, but he was also equally acceptable as an academic personality.
  • George V awarded him "The Knight" for his excellent services to education in 1931.
  • Fellow of All Souls College.
  • Radhakrishnan was named Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at the University of Oxford in 1936.
  • In 1938, he was elected as the Fellow of the British Academy.
  • He was elected as a Permanent Member of the Institute international de philosophie.
  • He was the recipient of the Pour le Merite for Sciences and Arts by the Government of Germany in 1954.
  • Radhakrishnan was the awardee of the Sash First Class of the Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1954.
  • The government of India awarded him with Bharat Ratna in the year 1954.+
  • In 1961, he won the peace prize of the German Book Trade.
  • The government of the UK made him an Honorary Member of the Order of Merit in 1963.
  • In 1975, he won the Templeton Prize.
  • Radhakrishnan Chevening Scholarships, a scholarship by Oxford University is named in honour of him.
A portrait of Radhakrishnan adorns the Chamber of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. Since 1962, his birthday, 5 September is being celebrated as Teachers' Day in India.  He was the first person to get a Sahitya Akademi fellowship. He was nominated sixteen times for the Nobel prize in literature and eleven times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the only Indian to have this landmark.

Death

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan died on 17 April 1975 at the age of 86. 

Popular posts from this blog

Biography of Salim Ali, The Birdman of India

-
Image
Biography of Salim Ali, The Birdman of India Salim Moizuddin Ali, popularly known as Salim Ali was an Indian naturalist and ornithologist. He is the first man in India who conducted a methodological study to survey bird characteristics all over the country and even abroad. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan from the Government of India in 1958 and 1976 respectively. Ali is considered the 'Birdman of India'. His autobiography 'The Fall of a Sparrow' is one of the most read autobiographies in India. Family and Education Salim Ali was born on 12 November 1896 at Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India (now in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India). His father was Moizuddin. He lost his parents at an early age and grew up with his maternal uncle Amiruddin Tyabji. His family was a Sulaimani Bohra Family, a branch of Tayibi Islamism. Salim's schooling was started at Zenana Bible and Medical Mission Girls High School at Girgaum. Then he was moved to St. Xavier...
Read more

APJ Abdul Kalam, The Missile man of India

-
Image
APJ Abdul Kalam, The Missile man of India Avul Pakir Janulabdeen Abdul Kalam was an Indian aerospace scientist. He was the 11 th president of India. He is known as the “Missile Man of India” for his work on the development of ballistic missiles and launch vehicle technology. He was the awardee of India’s highest civilization award ‘Bharat Ratna’. Family and Education  APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in the pilgrimage centre of Rameshwaram on Pamban Island, Madras Presidency, British India (now in Tamil Nadu, India). His father Jainulabdeen Marakayar was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque. His mother was Ashiamma. Kalam’s family belongs to “Marakkar”, a Muslim community of south-east Asia. Though Kalam’s family was poverty-stricken, their ancestors were wealthy traders and landowners. He was the youngest of his five siblings. Young Kalam was bound to come down to the street to earn money due to poverty. He had to sell newspapers to add to the family income. But...
Read more

Biography of M. Visvesvaraya, Pioneer of Indian Civil Engineering

-
Image
Biography of M. Visvesvaraya, Pioneer of Indian Civil Engineering Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was an Indian civil engineer. He is considered the father of engineering. He was also a great statesman. His birthday is celebrated as Engineers' Day throughout the countries India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Visvesvaraya was the first man who initiated plans to solve flood and water management problems in India. Early Life and Education Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15 September 1860. He was born in a Telegu Family. His father was Mokshagundan Srinivasa Shastri and his mother was Venkata Lakshamma. At the time of his birth, his birthplace was Muddenahally (presently Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state).  His father was a Sanskrit scholar and Ayurvedic practitioner. His father died when he was only 15 years old. After completing his school in Chikkaballapur, Visvesvaraya went to his first college in Bangalore. It was the Central College of Bangalore. He completed his B.A degr...
Read more