Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: All you need to know about him

September 5 is commemorated as the ‘Teacher’s Day’ annually to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

About Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan:

• He was born on September 5, 1888 in Thiruthani, Tamil Nadu. He was India’s first Vice President and second President.
• He received a knighthood in 1931 and honorary membership of the British Royal Order of Merit in 1963. He was the first Indian to hold a chair at the University of Oxford – the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics (1936-1952), In 1930, he was appointed Haskell lecturer in Comparative Religion at the University of Chicago.
• He was elected chairman of UNESCO’s executive board in 1948.
• He was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954.
• He was one of the founders of Helpage India, a renowned NGO for elderly underprivileged in India.
• He had also formed the Krishnarpan Charity Trust along with Ghanshyam Das Birla and some other social workers in the pre-independence era.
• Works – His book, ‘The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore’ became famous globally in terms of a showcase of Indian philosophy. His philosophy was grounded in Advaita Vedanta. He defended Hinduism against “uninformed Western criticism” and played a major role in the formation of contemporary Hindu identity.
• His other works include Indian Philosophy, (1923-27), The Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), An Idealist View of Life (1932), Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939), and East and West: Some Reflections (1955).