Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who was the first Vice President of free India has been an admirable personality. Before entering politics, Dr Radhakrishnan, who is one of the exceptional leaders of our country, was a philosopher, teacher and author. On account of his contribution to education, his birthday 5th September is celebrated as Teachers’ day all over India.
He was born in 1888 in Tiruttani in a modest Brahmin family. He completed his studies with the support of a scholarship as his family could not afford education for him. He completed his early
education at various missionary schools. He took keen interest in philosophy and completed
his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in philosophy.
After completing his Master's degree, he started working as an assistant teacher at the Madras
Presidency College. As he was interested in religious mythologie, he mastered Hindu
philosophy. Besides this, he mastered many other classic Hindu philosophies too. In addition, he
was familiar with the philosophies of Jainism and Buddhism. Also, he was well aware of the
thinkers of the western world.
In 1918, he joined the University of Mysore as a professor. Soon after, Calcutta
University nominated him as a professor of Philosophy. Later in his life, he received an invitation from Oxford University to deliver lectures on Hindu Philosophy. Furthermore, through relentless efforts, he was able to put Indian philosophy on the world map.
After the 1930s, his life took a big turn and he became the Vice-Chancellor of many
universities, including Banaras Hindu University and Andhra University. Just before India became independent, he was appointed as the Ambassador to UNESCO and after independence, he became the Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union.
In the year 1954 he was conferred with the highest award- the Bharat Ratna. Besides the Bharat Ratna, he won the Templeton
award which he donated to Oxford University. He also won the Peace Prize in the German Book Trade. The University started the Radhakrishnan Scholarship
which they later renamed as Radhakrishnan.
He served as the Vice-President of India for two complete terms before being appointed as the President of India in1962. He served the country with exemplary work till he passed away in the year 1975 in Madras(now Chennai).
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