Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5 September, 1888 in Tirutani, a well-known religious center in the Madras State. He was the second son of Veera Samayya, a tehsildar in a zamindari. It was a middle-class, respectable Hindu Brahmin family. Indeed, the place, the time and the family were most suitable, from every point of view, for the advent of a new philosopher-statesman, so directly needed in those turbulent days of the awakening of a very ancient and glorious nation, drowsy and dormant in its own ignorance and indolence, for reasons well known to all.

Dr.Radhakrishnan was married in 1906, at the tender age of 18 and while still a student, to Sivakamamma, and spent a happy conjugal life with her for half a century before she died in 1956.

The main part of his life was spent as an academic.Dr. Radhakrishnan was a philosophy professor at Mysore (1918-21) and Kolkata (1921-31, 1937-41) universities and also held a professorship in eastern religion and ethics at Oxford (1936-52). His positions in academic administration included the vice chancellorship of Andhra Univ. (1931-36) and of Banares Hindu Univ. (1939-48) and the chancellorship of Delhi Univ. (1953-62). He was ambassador to the USSR (1949-52) and vice president of India (1952-62) before his election as president. He stressed the need for India to establish a classless and casteless society. As a philosopher, Dr. Radhakrishnan espoused a modern form of Hinduism that attempted to reconcile the world's religions. Among his works are Indian Philosophy (2 vol., 1923-27), The Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939, 2d ed. 1969), East and West: Some Reflections (1955), and Religion in a Changing World (1967). He was knighted in 1931.

Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of his closest friends throughout, said about Dr. Radhakrishnan: "I join you in paying my tribute to our President, Dr. Radhakrishnan. He has served his country in many capacities. But above all, he is a great Teacher from whom all of us have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is India's peculiar privilege to have a great philosopher, a great educationist and a great humanist as her President. That in itself shows the kind of men we honour and respect".