Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5th September 1888, in Tiruttani of North Arcot district of erstwhile Madras Presidency (now in Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu State). Dr. Radhakrishnan was a scholar and statesman who was Vice President of India from 1952 to 1962 and later became President of India from 1962 to 1967. He served as professor of philosophy at Mysore from 1918 to 1921 and Calcutta (1921–31; 1937–41) universities and as vice chancellor of Andhra University (1931–36) and vice chancellor of Benares Hindu University from 1939 to 1948. Dr. Radhakrishnan served as the Chancellor of Delhi University from 1953 to 1962.

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was born in a Telugu Hindhu family which hails from Sarvepalli village in Nellore district of present day Andhra Pradesh. Dr. Radhakrishnan spent his early years in Thiruttani and Tirupati. His parents were Sarvepalli Veeraswami who was a subordinate revenue official in the service of a local Zamindar and Sithamma. His primary education was at K. V. High School at Thiruttani. Dr. Radhakrishnan during his school days moved to the Hermansburg Evangelical Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati in 1896. Radhakrishnan got several scholarships throughout his student life. He joined Voorhees College in Vellore for his high school education. At the age of 16, he joined the Madras Christian College which is affiliated to the University of Madras. He completed his bachelors and master’s degree from the same college.

Dr. Radhakrishnan was appointed in the Department of Philosophy at the Madras Presidency College in April 1909. After 9 years, in 1918, he was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. In 1921 he was appointed as a Philosophy Professor to occupy the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. He represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire in June 1926 and the International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University in September 1926. Radhakrishnan was appointed as the Principal of Manchester College in 1929 and he got an opportunity to lecture the students of the University of Oxford on Comparative Religion. From 1931 to 1936, Dr. Radhakrishnan served as the vice-chancellor of Andhra University. Dr. Radhakrishnan succeeded Pt. Madan Mohan Malavya as the Vice Chancellor of BHU (Banaras Hindhu University) in 1939. Dr. Radhakrishan served as the Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University till 1948. Radhakrishnan was the representative of India at UNESCO from 1946 to 1952. In the year 1949, he was sent to Soviet Union as the Indian Ambassador. He represented India in the Soviet Union till 1952. Radhakrishnan was elected as the first Vice President of India in 1952 (1952 – 1962), and later in 1962 he was elected as the second President of India (1962–1967). Every year, Dr. Radhakrishnan’s birthday – September 5, is celebrated as Teacher’s day. Dr. Radhakrishnan took his last breathe on 16th April, 1975 and was cremated with full state honors in his hometown of Madras (now Chennai) at the Mylapore crematorium.