Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888 at Tiruttani near Madras. After a brilliant academic career, he taught philosophy in the Universities at Madras, Mysore and Calcutta. he was Vice-Chancellor of Andhra Universities. He was appointed Indian ambassador to USSR in 1949. His contributions to UNESCO in different capabilities - as a member of its Executive Board, as its Chairman, as the President of the General Conference twice - have been universally acknowledged. He was the Vice-President of India from 1952 to 1962, and then the President of India from 1962 to 1967. Retiring from active political life thereafter, he lived a quite life in Madras till his death on April 17, 1975.

A philosopher, thinker, and scholar, radhakrishnan was committed to spiritual idealism, as a result of the influence of te Vedantic tradition on the one hand and his own spiritual experience on the other. He delivered he Upton Lectures on "The Hindu View of Life" in Manchester College, Oxford in 1926; and the Hibbert Lectures on "An Idealist View of Life" in London and manchester in 1929. He was the first Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at Oxford University. Through his exposition and interpretation of Indian philosophy, he crated a new awareness among the scholars about the Indian hertage both in india and abroad, and made them realize that Indian wisdom was "essential not only for the revival of the Indian nation, but also for the re-education of the human race". The outlook of spiritual idealism is pervassive in all his writings.

Radhakrishnan was a champion of liberalism, individualism and democracy. In order to be truly human, everyone requires, Radhakrishnan said, plitical economic and social fredom not as an end in itself, but as an indispensable means to spiritual freedom. Democracy, according to him, is a faith in the Democracy, according to him, is a faith in the spiritual possibilities of every human being. Like Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Swami Civekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, and Mahatma Gandhi, Radhakrishnan was one of the makers of modern India. His love for India did not prevent him from thinking in terms of the ideal of the world community.

He wanted the nation-states to work togather for the purpose of achieving the common good of the international community. Radhakrishnan is remembered not only as a great philosopher and distinguished President of India, but also as a great humanist and a citizen of the world.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India