Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

Life and Academic Career

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888–1975) was born in Tiruttani in the Madras Presidency into a Telugu-speaking Brahmin family of modest means. Educated largely on scholarships, he studied philosophy at Madras Christian College, where early encounters with Western philosophy and Christian theology shaped his lifelong project of presenting Indian thought in terms intelligible to a Western-educated audience.

Radhakrishnan began his career as a philosophy lecturer at Madras Presidency College and later at Mysore University, gaining recognition for his command of both Indian and Western traditions. In 1921 he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calcutta, a leading intellectual center of colonial India. His reputation as an interpreter of Hinduism reached international audiences with lectures at Oxford, culminating in his appointment as Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics (1936–1952).

He played a prominent role in academic institutions: he served as Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University (1931–1936) and later as Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (1939–1948). These posts placed him at the intersection of scholarship, institutional leadership, and nationalist aspirations in late colonial India.

After Indian independence, Radhakrishnan’s stature as a public intellectual led to diplomatic and political responsibilities. He was appointed Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union (1949–1952), then elected Vice President of India (1952–1962), and eventually served as the country’s second President (1962–1967). Even while a statesman, he continued to lecture and write, maintaining a public image that fused philosopher and national leader.

Philosophical Outlook and Key Works

Radhakrishnan’s philosophy is often described as neo-Vedānta, a modern reinterpretation of Advaita Vedānta. He argued that at the heart of Indian thought lies the insight that ultimate reality (Brahman) is a spiritual, unitary consciousness, and that the self (Ātman) in its deepest sense is one with this reality. This non-dualism, he held, is not merely speculative metaphysics but grounded in religious experience.

A central feature of his thought is a universalist and pluralist interpretation of religion. Radhakrishnan maintained that all major religious traditions are different cultural and symbolic articulations of a common experiential core—direct or indirect encounters with the divine or the Absolute. Doctrinal divergences are explained as historically conditioned interpretations of this core insight. On this basis he advocated religious tolerance and dialogue, contending that no single religion can claim a monopoly on truth.

He also advanced a theistic reading of Advaita. While classical Advaita emphasizes impersonal Brahman, Radhakrishnan often spoke of God as the living spirit manifest in personal and impersonal forms. This allowed him to bridge devotional theism and non-dual metaphysics, presenting Hinduism as both philosophically sophisticated and religiously personal.

In his view, reason and science do not refute religion but clarify it. He argued that scientific inquiry concerns the empirical order, whereas religion concerns value and meaning grounded in spiritual reality. A key claim of his philosophy of religion is that intuitive or mystical knowledge complements, rather than contradicts, rational analysis. He thus framed Hinduism as inherently compatible with modernity, democracy, and ethical universalism.

Among his major works are:

• Indian Philosophy (2 vols., 1923–1927), a systematic and historically organized account of Indian philosophical systems aimed at a global readership.
• The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918) and The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy (1920), early attempts to link Indian thought with contemporary idealist currents.
• The Hindu View of Life (1926) and An Idealist View of Life (1932), accessible expositions of his religious and metaphysical views.
• His influential English commentary and translation of the Bhagavad Gītā (1948), which presents the Gītā as a synthesis of action, devotion, and knowledge.
• Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939), a comparative study of religious philosophies.

Collectively, these works did much to install Indian philosophy as a recognized field in international academic discourse.

Political Roles and Educational Thought

Radhakrishnan’s public career reflected his conviction that philosophy and politics are not entirely separable. He regarded the Indian independence movement and the building of the new state as an opportunity to realize spiritual and ethical ideals in public life. Although not a mass-political organizer, he was a visible intellectual ally of Indian nationalism.

As ambassador to the Soviet Union, he sought to foster understanding between a secular, Marxist state and a newly independent, religiously plural democracy. As Vice President and later President of India, he presided over parliamentary debates and ceremonial functions, frequently invoking philosophical and religious themes in speeches about national integration, moral responsibility, and global peace.

Radhakrishnan is particularly noted for his philosophy of education. He argued that the purpose of education is not merely vocational training but the harmonious development of character, intellect, and spiritual awareness. Education, in his view, should cultivate critical thinking, ethical sensitivity, and a sense of global citizenship while remaining rooted in India’s cultural heritage.

He chaired the University Education Commission (1948–1949), which issued an influential report on the aims, structure, and curriculum of higher education in India. The Commission recommended strengthening liberal education, promoting research, and reinforcing moral and civic instruction. In recognition of his impact as a teacher and educational philosopher, India later designated his birthday, 5 September, as Teachers’ Day.

Reception, Influence, and Criticism

Radhakrishnan’s work had substantial impact both inside and outside India. Internationally, he was one of the first major systematic expositors of Indian thought to Western academic audiences. His writings helped secure a place for Indian philosophy within comparative philosophy, religious studies, and the broader philosophical canon. In India, he came to symbolize a vision of Hinduism as tolerant, rational, and spiritually profound, and he influenced generations of students and scholars.

However, his oeuvre has also been the subject of significant critical scrutiny. Some historians of philosophy argue that his presentations of Indian systems are overly systematized and shaped by Western categories, potentially obscuring historical diversity and internal debates within those traditions. Others contend that his emphasis on a shared mystical core across religions tends to downplay doctrinal conflicts and socio-political dimensions of religious life.

Within Indian intellectual debates, critics associated with Dalit, feminist, and postcolonial perspectives have questioned his largely celebratory picture of Hinduism, arguing that it insufficiently addresses issues of caste hierarchy, gender inequality, and structural injustice. Some scholars of Advaita Vedānta also view his universalist, theistic, and ethically activist interpretation as departing from classical formulations.

Defenders respond that Radhakrishnan never claimed to be a purely antiquarian historian, but a constructive philosopher seeking to reinterpret India’s traditions for a plural, democratic, and modern world. They argue that his selective and creative use of sources was both inevitable and productive for philosophical reconstruction.

Despite ongoing debates, Radhakrishnan remains a central figure in the global reception of Indian philosophy and in discussions of comparative religion. His work continues to be read as a major attempt to articulate a philosophically sophisticated, spiritually oriented, and religiously pluralist worldview in the context of twentieth-century political and cultural transformations.