DR.

SARVEPALLI RADHAKRISHNAN - THE

PHILOSOPHER PRESIDENT

Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888, in a middle class family

in the pilgrim town of Tirutani. His father, it is said, did not want his son to learn English, instead
wanted him to become a priest. However, the talents of the boy were so outstanding that he was
sent to school at Thirupati and then Vellore. Later, he joined the Christian College, Madras, and
studied philosophy. Drawn by accident into philosophy, Radhakrishnan by his confidence,
concentration and strong convictions went on to become a great philosopher.

Marriage and family

Sir 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. Former Indian Test Cricketer VVS Laxman is his great grandnephew.

EDUCATION
Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships throughout his academic life. He joined Voorhees
College in Vellore but switched to the Madras Christian College at the age of 17. He graduated
from there in 1906 with a master's degree in Philosophy, being one of its most distinguished
alumni.
Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chance rather than choice. Being a financially constrained
student, when a cousin who graduated from the same college passed on his philosophy textbooks
in to Radhakrishnan, it automatically decided his academic course.
Radhakrishnan wrote his thesis for the M.A. degree on "The Ethics of the Vedanta and its
Metaphysical Presuppositions". It "was intended to be a reply to the charge that the Vedanta
system had no room for ethics. He was afraid that this M.A. thesis would offend his philosophy
professor, Dr. Alfred George Hogg. Instead, Hogg commended Radhakrishnan on having done
most excellent work. Radhakrishnan's thesis was published when he was only twenty. According
to Radhakrishnan himself, the criticism of Hogg and other Christian teachers of Indian culture
"disturbed my faith and shook the traditional props on which I leaned". Radhakrishnan himself
describes how, as a student,
The challenge of Christian critics impelled me to make a study of Hinduism and find out what is
living and what is dead in it. My pride as a Hindu, roused by the enterprise and eloquence of
Swami Vivekananda, was deeply hurt by the treatment accorded to Hinduism in missionary
institutions.
This led him to his critical study of Indian philosophy and religion and a lifelong defence of
Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism".

Philosophy and Life

His first book, "The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Material Presupposition"', being his thesis
for the M.A. degree examination of the Madras University, published in 1908, at once
established his fame as a great philosopher of undoubted ability. All his later works are
landmarks in their respective fields. Expressing abstract and abstruse philosophical thoughts in
intelligible language is considered very difficult. But Dr. Radhakrishnan was one of the few who
could accomplish this with ease and simplicity.
To him, philosophy was a way of understanding life and his study of Indian philosophy served as a
cultural therapy. By interpreting Indian thought in western terms and showing that it was imbued
with reason and logic he was able to give Indians a new sense of esteem, who were overcome by
inferiority complex by imperial forces. But he also made clear to them that their long and rich
tradition had been arrested and required further evolution and he exhorted Indians to cast off much
that was corrupt and abhorrent.

Social Commitment
Dr. Radhakrishnan moved beyond being a mere academic and sought to engage his
philosophical and religious studies in the political and social developments of the contemporary
context.
He believed that in India, the philosopher's duty was to keep in touch with the past while
stretching out to the future. This commitment to society, the crusading urgent tone in his
scholarly writings, the modern note in his interpretations of even classical texts and his
intellectual resistance to the deforming pressures of colonialism gave Dr. Radhakrishnan a
distinct public image. He was a coin minted differently from the usual run of politicians and
academicians.

Evocative Teacher
Far from being a stern and severe intellectual remote from the world, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a
very humane person. Exceedingly popular among his students right from his early days as a
professor at Presidency College, Madras he was an evocative teacher. He was offered the
professorship in Calcutta University when he was less than 30 years old. He served as ViceChancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. In 1939, he was appointed the Vice
Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University .Two years later, he took over the Sir Sayaji Rao Chair
of Indian Culture and Civilisation in Banaras.
Recognition of his scholarship came again in 1936, when he was invited to fill the Chair of
Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford which he retained for 16 years. His

mastery on his subject and his clarity of thought and expression made him a much sought after
teacher. But what made him even more popular was his warm-heartedness and his ability to draw
out people. This aspect of his personality continued to win him countless admirers throughout his
long and illustrious public life.
In the last decades of British rule, his was the most sophisticated and exalted analysis of
Gandhi's work and thought and in free India he provided the ideological armour for Nehru's
foreign policy.

International Acclaim
His commitment to high principles and unfailing dignity lent nobility and moral authority to
all the offices which he held. If in India Dr. Radhakrishnan was a highly respected figure, abroad
he became one of the best-liked public figures of his time. He earned very early international
recognition as a philosopher. In 1952, the Library of Living Philosophers, an institute of worldwide repute, brought out a massive volume on 'the philosophy of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan'
devoted wholly to a critical appreciation of his philosophical doctrines.
After Independence, this philosophical luminary, who personified the essence of India yet had a
universal vision, became an ideal ambassador to the Soviet Union, for the nascent nation poised
to establish itself in the international arena.

Leading the Nation

In 1952, Dr. Radhakrishnan was chosen to be the Vice President of the Republic of India and
in 1962, he was made the Head of the State for five years. It was the glory of Indian democracy
that an educationist aloof from politics but with an international acclaim as a profound scholar
was placed in the position of the President. And it was an advantage for a young country like
India to have him to interpret its domestic and foreign policies abroad to expound its outlook and
aspirations emphatically and in the rightway which was much needed in a world of uncertainity
and disbelief among nations.
His appointment as President was hailed by Bertrand Russel who said "It is an honour to
philosophy that Dr.Radhakrishnan should be President of India and I, as a philosopher, take
special pleasure in this. Plato aspired for philosophers to become kings and it is a tribute to India
that she should make a philosopher her President".
History reserved for Radhakrishnan's term of office as President much suspense and surprise.
Within months of his ascendancy in 1962 there was the Chinese invasion. The nation's morale
was dealt a blow but Radhakrishnans voice, firm and resolute came on the air to reassure a
shaken nation. "Owing to the difficult terrain and numerical superiority of the Chinese, we
suffered military reverses. These have opened our eyes to the realities of the situation. We are
now aware of our inadequacies and are alive to the needs of the present and the demands of the
future. The country has developed a new purpose, a new will".

In 1965, Pakistan violated our Western frontiers. Dr Radhakrishnan in his broadcast to the
nation on September 25, 1965 said,"Pakistan assumed that India was too weak or too afraid or
too proud to fight. India, though naturally disinclined to take to arms felt the necessity to defend
herself when attacked. Pakistan also assumed that communal disturbances would occur in the
country and in the resulting chaos she could have her way. Her miscalculations must have come
to her as a rude shock."
Dr.Radhakrishnan had great faith in Indian democracy. In his farewell broadcast to the Nation
on May 12, 1967, he said that despite occasional forebodings to the contrary, the Indian
Constitution had worked successfully so far. But democracy, he warned, was more than a system
of the Government. "It was a way of life and a regime of civilized conduct of human affairs. We
should be the architects of peaceful changes and the advocates of radical reform", he said.

Political career
Radhakrishnan started his political career rather late in life, after his successful academic
career. His international authority preceded his political career. In 1931 he was nominated to the
League of Nations Committee for International Cooperation, where after "in Western eyes he
was the recognized Hindu authority on Indian ideas and a persuasive interpreter of the role of
Eastern institutions in contemporary society. When India became independent in 1947,
Radhakrishnan represented India at UNESCO (194652) and was later Ambassador of India to
the Soviet Union, from 1949 to 1952. He was also elected to the Constituent Assembly of India.
Radhakrishnan was elected as the first Vice-President of India in 1952, and elected as the second
President of India (19621967).
Radhakrishnan did not have a background in the Congress Party, nor was he active in the
struggle against British rule.His motivation lay in his pride of Hindu culture, and the defence of
Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism. According to Brown, he had always defended
Hindu culture against uninformed Western criticism and had symbolized the pride of Indians in
their own intellectual traditions.

Charity
Along with Ghanshyam Das Birla and some other social workers in the pre-independence era,
Radhakrishnan formed the Krishnarpan Charity Trust.

Great Teacher
It was in 1962 when Dr. Radhakrishnan became the President of India that his birthday in
September came to be observed as 'Teachers' Day'. It was a tribute to Dr.Radhakrishnan's close
association with the cause of teachers. Whatever position he held whether as President or Vice
President or even as Ambassador, Dr.Radhakrishnan essentially remained a teacher all his life.
The teaching profession was his first love and those who studied under him still remember with
gratitude his great qualities as a teacher.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of his closest friends throughout, said about
Dr.Radhakrishnan: "He has served his country in many capacities. But above all, he is a great
Teacher from whom all of us have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is Indias peculiar
privilege to have a great philosopher, a great educationist and a great humanist as her President.
That in itself shows the kind of men we honor and respect. "Bharat Ratna, the highest award of
the nation, was conferred on him in 1954 in recognition of his meritorious service to mankind.

Awards and Honors

1931: Appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1931, although he ceased to use the title "Sir" after
India attained independence.

1938: Elected Fellow of the British Academy.

1954: The Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India.

1954: German "Order pour le Merite for Arts and Science".

1961: The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

1962: Institution of Teacher's Day in India, yearly celebrated at 5 September,

Radhakrishnan's birthday, in honor of Radhakrishnan's belief that "teachers should be the
best minds in the country".
1963: The British Order of Merit.

1968: Sahitya Akademi fellowship, The highest honour conferred by the Sahitya
Akademi on a writer(he is the first person to get this award)

1975: The Templeton Prize in 1975, a few months before his death, for advocating nonaggression and conveying "a universal reality of God that embraced love and wisdom for all
people." He donated the entire amount of the Templeton Prize to Oxford University.

1989: Institution of the Radhakrishnan Scholarships by Oxford University in the memory

of Radhakrishnan. The scholarships were later renamed the "Radhakrishnan Chevening
Scholarships".

Appraisal
Radhakrishnan has been highly appraised.
According to Paul Artur Schillp- Nor would it be possible to find a more excellent example of a
living "bridge" between the East and the West than Professor Radhakrishnan. Steeped, as

Radhakrishnan has been since his childhood, in the life, traditions, and philosophical heritage of
his native India, he has also struck deep roots in Western philosophy, which he has been studying
tirelessly ever since his undergraduate college-days in Madras Christian College, and in which he
is as thoroughly at home as any Western philosopher.[37]
And according to Hawley- Radhakrishnan's concern for experience and his extensive knowledge
of the Western philosophical and literary traditions has earned him the reputation of being a
bridge-builder between India and the West. He often appears to feel at home in the Indian as well
as the Western philosophical contexts, and draws from both Western and Indian sources
throughout his writing. Because of this, Radhakrishnan has been held up in academic circles as a
representative of Hinduism to the West. His lengthy writing career and his many published works
have been influential in shaping the West's understanding of Hinduism, India, and the East.

5th September, The Birthday of Dr. Radhskrishnan, is observed as Teacher's Day.