FROM VILLAGE SCHOLAR TO PHILOSOPHER-PRESIDENT

After assuming the presidency in 1962, Radhakrishnan was asked to celebrate his birthday on 5 September; he declined and replied that it would be his "proud privilege" if that date were observed as Teachers' Day instead.

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Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (born Sept 5, 1888, Thiruttani) grew up in a modest Telugu Brahmin family; his father hoped he'd be a temple priest, but scholarships carried him to Madras Christian College at sixteen, graduating with honors in 1907. A cousin's discarded philosophy textbooks diverted him from mathematics "by chance rather than choice," sparking a thesis on Vedantic ethics at twenty and a lifelong defense of Indian thought.

By his early thirties he was publishing widely, from The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918) to the two-volume Indian Philosophy (1923-27), establishing him internationally. In 1936 he became the first Indian to hold an Oxford chairthe Spalding Professorship of Eastern Religions and Ethics while also lecturing abroad (e.g., the 1930 Haskell Lectures at Chicago). For all the eminence, he remained approachable, famed for quick, clarifying wit. As a teacher he inspired unusual devotion: on leaving the University of Mysore, students pulled his carriage to the railway station-a farewell of pure affection.

FAMILY AND PERSONAL LIFE

While Radhakrishnan's public life as a scholar and leader is well documented, his personal life was more private and is less widely discussed. In 1903, at the very young age of 15, he was married to Sivakamu, a distant cousin (she was only ten at the time, in keeping with the customs of that era). Despite the marriage's early start, it proved enduring and supportive. Sivakamu was a steady presence by Radhakrishnan's side for over five decades, until her death in 1956. The couple had five daughters and one son. Their son, Sarvepalli Gopal, would later become a prominent historian in his own right, indicating the scholarly atmosphere of the family.

Radhakrishnan's family life was not without difficulties and complexities.