Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Biography: The Indian philosopher and statesman Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan served as the second president of India from 1962 to 1967. In addition, he served as India’s first vice president from 1952 to 1962.
Radhakrishnan (1888-1975), an academic, philosopher, and statesman, was one of the most renowned and influential Indian academic intellectuals of the 20th century.
An educator by trade, he entered politics relatively late in his life. Born into a poor Brahmin family in southern India, he grew up to be a brilliant and intelligent young man with an insatiable desire for knowledge.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Biography
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Early Life
Radhakrishnan was born under the name Sarvepalli Radhakrishnayya to Telugu-speaking parents named Sarvepalli Veeraswami and Sithamma. Tiruttani, North Arcot district, erstwhile Madras Presidency (now Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu), His family is from the Andhra Pradesh village of Sarvepalli in the Nellore district. He spent his early years in Thiruttani and Tirupati. His father was a subordinate revenue official in the employ of a local zamindar. His primary education was at Thiruttani’s K. V. High School. He transferred to the Hermansburg Evangelical Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati and the Government High Secondary School in Walajapet in 1896.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Education
In 1963, Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan met with US President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office. Throughout his academic career, Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships. His secondary education was attained at Voorhees College in Vellore. After his F.A. (First of Arts) class, he enrolled at the University of Madras-affiliated Madras Christian College at the age of 16. He graduated in 1907 and earned his master’s degree from the same college.
Radhakrishnan studied philosophy more by accident than by design. Radhakrishnan was a financially constrained student, so when a cousin who had graduated from the same institution gave him his philosophy textbooks, it determined his academic path.
Academic career
Bujjai drew a hand-drawn portrait of Mr President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who inscribed it as “Radhakrishnayya” in Telugu.
Radhakrishnan was appointed to the Department of Philosophy at Madras Presidency College in April 1909. Subsequently, in 1918, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Maharaja’s College, Mysore, by the University of Mysore. At that time, he had published numerous articles in prestigious periodicals such as The Quest, Journal of Philosophy, and International Journal of Ethics. His first publication, The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, was also completed. He believed Tagore’s philosophy was the “authentic expression of the Indian spirit.” 1920 saw the publication of his second book, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy.
In 1921, he was appointed to the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta as a professor of philosophy. In June 1926, he represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire, and in September 1926, he represented the university at the International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University. The invitation to deliver the Hibbert Lecture on the ideals of life at Manchester College, Oxford in 1929, which was later published in book form as An Idealist View of Life, was another significant academic event during this time.
In 1929, Manchester College invited Radhakrishnan to fill the position vacated by former principal J. Estlin Carpenter. This gave him the opportunity to lecture on Comparative Religion to the students of Oxford University. George V knighted him in the June 1931 Birthday Honours for his contributions to education, and the Earl of Willingdon, Governor-General of India, duly invested him with the honour in April 1932. However, after Indian independence, he ceased using the title: 9 preferring his academic title of ‘Doctor’.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Awards
During his illustrious career as a scholar and statesman, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan received numerous awards and honours. Among the most prestigious distinctions and honours he has received are:
- In 1954, in recognition of his contributions to the fields of education and philosophy, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was bestowed India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.
- In 1931, the British government knighted Radhakrishnan in recognition of his contributions to the discipline of philosophy.
- Order of Merit: In 1963, the British government awarded Radhakrishnan the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be bestowed upon a foreign national.
- Radhakrishnan received a number of honorary degrees from universities across the globe, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Paris.
- Radhakrishnan received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 1967, the highest honour bestowed by the National Academy of Letters in India.
- In 1965, Radhakrishnan got the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, which goes to those who contributed significant contributions to promoting international understanding and benevolence.
- In 1957, the Soviet Union presented Radhakrishnan with the Order of Friendship in recognition of his efforts to foster friendly relations between India and the Soviet Union.
Family
Radhakrishnan married Sivakamu, a distant cousin when he was 16 years old. According to custom, the family arranged the marriage. Padmavati, Rukmini, Sushila, Sundari, and Shakuntala were the names of the couple’s five daughters. In addition, they had a son named Sarvepalli Gopal who became a distinguished historian. Numerous members of Radhakrishnan’s family, including his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have pursued diverse careers in academia, public policy, medicine, law, banking, business, publishing, and other disciplines around the globe. Sivakamu died on 26 November 1956. Stayed together for roughly 53 years.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan death
On April 17, 1975, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan passed away at the age of 86. His bronchitis and pneumonia ultimately resulted in his demise. People throughout India mourned Radhakrishnan’s passing, remembering him as a distinguished scholar, statesman, and prominent proponent of Indian culture and values. His ashes travelled at sea from Tamil Nadu’s Rameswaram Beach, where he passed away with state honours. Radhakrishnan is still regarded as one of the most distinguished and esteemed scholars and statesmen in modern India’s history.
Jackie Robinson Day 2023: Date, History, Facts about Achievements of Jackie Robinson
Quotes of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
On the anniversary of his death, here are some of his enlightening quotes.
- Books are the medium through which we construct bridges between cultures.
- Tolerance represents the homage a finite intellect pays to the inexhaustibility of the infinite.
- Knowledge gives us power, while love gives us completeness.
- When we believe we know everything, we stop learning.
- God resides, suffers, and feels within each of us, and over time, His attributes, knowledge, beauty, and love become revealed in each of us.
- The result of education should be a liberated, creative man who is able to combat historical circumstances and natural adversities.
- Authentic religion is a revolutionary force: an unrelenting foe of oppression, privilege, and injustice.
- The primary purpose of a university is not to award degrees and diplomas. But rather cultivate the university ethos and advance learning. The former is impossible without corporate experience, while the latter is impossible without honours and postgraduate education.
- Unhappiness with the present is a prerequisite for every moral transformation and spiritual regeneration.
- Teachers should possess the most intelligent minds in the nation.
- God is not worshipped, but rather the authority that professes to speak in His name. Sin becomes disobedience to authority rather than an act of dishonesty.
- The worst deviant has a future just as the greatest saint has a history. Nobody is as virtuous or evil as he believes.
- It takes centuries to create a small amount of history, and centuries of history to create a tradition.
