One of India's most influential
scholars of comparative religion
and philosophy, Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan is considered
through his efforts to have built
a bridge between the East and
the West by showing that the
philosophical systems of each
tradition is comprehensible
within the terms of the other.
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.
Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru, who was one of his
closest friends throughout said
about Dr. Radhakrishnan: µhe
has served his country in many
capacities. But above all, he is
a great teacher from whom all
of us have learned much and will
continue to learn. It is India's the peculiarity in itself showing the
kind of men we honor and
respect.
Dr. Radhakrishnan
was born into a middle class
Telugu Brahmin family at
Tirutani in Tamil Nadu state on 5th September 1998. A
town in Madras Presidency,
British India, 64 km to the
northwest of Madras (now
Chennai). His early years were
spent in Tirutani and Tirupati.
His father was a subordinate
revenue official in the service of
a local Zamindar ( landlord). He
didn't want his son to learn
English, instead wanted him to
become a priest. His primary education was at Primary
Board High School at Tirupati.
In 1896 he moved to the
Hermannsburg Evangelical
Lutheran Mission School at
Tirupati.
Dr. Radhakrishnan
was awarded scholarships
throughout his academic life. He
joined the Voorhees College in
Vellore but switched over to the
Madras Christian College at
the age of 17. He graduated
with a Masters Degree in
Philosophy from the Madras
Christian College in 1906,
being one of its most
distinguished alumni.
Radhakrishnan wrote his thesis
for the M.A degree on µEthics
of the Vedanta and its
Metaphysical Presuppositions. He was afraid that his M.A the thesis would offend his
Philosophy Professor, Dr. A.G
Hogg. Instead, Dr. Hogg
commended Radhakrishnan on
doing an excellent job.
Radhakrishnan's M.A thesis
was published when he was
only 20.
Radhakrishnan studied
philosophy by chance rather
then by choice. Being financially
constrained student at that 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, developed a deep interest in his
subject and wrote many
acclaimed works on
philosophy, both Eastern and
Western. Dr. Radhakrishnan
stated that western
philosophers, despite all claims
to objectivity, were influenced
by theological influences of their
own culture. He wrote books
of Indian philosophy according
to Western academic
standards, and made all efforts
for the west to give serious
consideration to Indian
philosophy. In his book µIdealist
View of Life, he made a powerful case for the importance
of intuitive thinking as opposed
to purely intellectual forms of
thought. He is well known for
his commentaries on the
Prarthana Trayi namely, the
Bhagavadgita, the Upanishads
and the Brahma Sutra.
Radhakrishnan was
married to Sivakamu, a distant
cousin, in 1904 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. He went on to a notable
career as a historian. Sivakamu
died in 1956. They were
married for over 51 years.
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 the first book, "the Philosophy of
Rabindranath Tagore." He
believed Tagore's philosophy
to be the µgenuine manifestation
of the Indian spirit. Dr. Radhakrishnans 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 of
Philosophy at Havard
University in September 1926.
In 1929 Dr.
Radhakrishnan was invited to
take the post vacated by
Principal J. Estlin Carpenter in
Manchester College, Oxford.
This gave him the opportunity
to lecture to the students of The University of Oxford on
Comparative Religion. For his
services to the education he was
knighted by the British Government in 1931, but he
never used the SR title in his personal life, preferring instead
his academic title of Doctor.
He was 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 selected a fellow of All
Souls College. In 1939 Pt.
Madan Mohan Malavya
invited him to succeed him as
the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras
Hindu University (BHU). He
continued as its Vice
Chancellor till January, 1948.
When India became
independent in 1947, Dr.
Radhakrishnan represented
India at UNESCO and was
later Ambassador of India to
the Soviet Union, from 1949 to
1952. He was also elected to
the Constituent Assembly of
India.
Along with Ghanashyam Das Birla and some
other Social workers in the
pre-independence era, Dr.
Radhakrishnan formed the
Krishnarpan Charity Trust. Dr.
Radhakrishnan moved beyond
being a more 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.
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.
His mastery of 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 decade 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
armor for Nehru's foreign
policy. His commitment to high
principles and unfilling dignity
and moral authority to all the
offices which he held. If in India
Dr. Radhakrishnan was highly the 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 Sarvepalli
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.
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
educationist aloof from politics
but having 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 it's domestic and
foreign policies abroad to
expound its outlook and
aspirations emphatically and in
the right way which was much
needed in a world of
uncertainty and disbelief
among nations.
His appointment as
President was hailed by
Bertrand Russel who said, " It
is an honor to the 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 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 Radhakrishnan's
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
also 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.
Dr. Radhakrishnan
was selected as the fast VicePresident of India in 1952. He
was elected as the second
President of India (1962-
1967). When he became
President, some of his students
and friends requested him to
allow them to celebrate his
birthday, 5th September. He
replied, "Instead of celebrating
my birthday, it would be my
proud privilege if 5th
September is observed as
Teachers Day." His birthday has
since been celebrated as the
Teachers Day in India. It was a tribute to Dr. Radhakrishnan's
close association with the
cause of teachers. Whatever the position he held, as 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.
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