The challenge of Christian critics impelled me to make a study of Hinduism and find out what is living and what is dead in it. My pride as a Hindu, roused by the enterprise and eloquence of Swami Vivekananda, was deeply hurt by the treatment accorded to Hinduism in missionary

Institutions.
This led him to his critical study of Indian philosophy and religion and a lifelong defence of Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism".

Paying Homage To The Fist BHARATA RATNA Recepient,
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on his Death Anniversary.

#SarvepalliRadhakrishnan (5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975) was born in a Brahmin family, in Tiruttani near Tirupati where he spent his early years & finished his Primary Education.
Radhakrishnan was awarded scholarships throughout his academic life and studied at Christian

Missionary Institutions upto his Master's.
Radhakrishnan studied philosophy by chance rather than choice. Being a financially constrained student, when a cousin who graduated from the same college passed on his philosophy textbooks in to Radhakrishnan, it automatically decided

his academic course.
Radhakrishnan wrote his thesis for the M.A. degree on "The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions".
It "was intended to be a reply to the charge that the Vedanta system had no room for ethics." Two of his professors,

Rev. William Meston and Dr. Alfred George Hogg, commended Radhakrishnan's dissertation.
According to Radhakrishnan himself, the criticism of Hogg and other Christian teachers of Indian culture "disturbed my faith and shook the traditional props on which I leaned."

Radhakrishnan married Sivakami, a distant cousin, at the age of 16.
In April 1909, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was appointed to the Department of Philosophy at the Madras Presidency College. Thereafter, in 1918, he was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore

SR's first book was, The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. He believed Tagore's philosophy to be the "genuine manifestation of the Indian spirit". His second book, The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy was published in 1920.
In 1921 he was appointed as a professor

in philosophy at Calcutta University.
He represented the University of Calcutta at the Congress of the Universities of the British Empire in June 1926 and the International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University in September 1926.
For his services to education he was

knighted by George V in the June 1931.
He was the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University from 1931 to 1936. IN 1936 and again in 1937, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature,
Further nominations for the award would continue steadily into the 1960s.

In 1939 Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya invited him to succeed him as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University. He served as its Vice-Chancellor till January 1948. (Wodeyar was an alumni of BHU,
not to be confused with Mysore University)
Radhakrishnan started his political career

"rather late in life", after his successful academic career. His international authority preceded his political career. In 1931 he was nominated to the League of Nations Committee for Intellectual Cooperation, where after "in Western eyes he was the recognized Hindu authority

on Bharatiya ideas and a persuasive interpreter of the role of Eastern institutions in contemporary society."

Radhakrishnan represented India at UNESCO (1946–52) and was later Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union, from 1949 to 1952. MOST IMPORTANT READ THE NEWSPAPER IMAGE

He was also elected to the Constituent Assembly of India. And #SarvepalliRadhakrishnan was elected as the first Vice-President of India in 1952, and elected as the second President of India (1962–1967). That newspaper image is from @htTweets

Radhakrishnan did not have a background in the Congress Party, nor was he active in the struggle against British rules. He was the politician in shadow. His motivation lay in his pride of Hindu culture, and the defence of Hinduism against "uninformed Western criticism".

When he became the President, some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday, on 5 September. He replied,

Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if September 5th is observed as Teachers' Day.

FEW UNKNOWN FACTS WHICH MUST SHAME THE WESTERN WORLD WHO PREACH HUMANITY & ETHICS BUT NEVER PRACTICE
1) Between 1933-37: S Radhakrishnan was Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
2) In 1968 The highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer

(he is the first person to get this award).
Overall, Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrsihnan was nominated sixteen times for the Nobel prize in literature, and eleven times for the Nobel Peace prize.

I understood why he is only remembered on Teacher's Day & silent on remaining 364 days.

Indira Gandhi didn't like Public Criticism & hence didn't give 2nd term for S Radhakrishnan.

- Natwar Singh