Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and The University of Calcutta

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The origin of the present volume dates back to August 2009 when the then Hon'ble Chancellor of the University, Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, suggested that Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday on 5 September celebrated throughout the country as Teachers Day be commemorated in a befitting manner in our University, with which the illustrious son of India had a constructive and fruitful relationship. We took up the challenge My esteemed colleagues, especially the dynamic University Librarian Dr. Soumitra Sarkar and his dedicated staff, spent tireless efforts to mount in the University's Centenary Building an exhibition on Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. A Tribute from the University of Calcutta, which the Hon'ble Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi kindly inaugurated. Needless to say, Radhakrishnan's contribution to the enrichment of the Indian knowledge-system was reflected in his class lectures. On the occasion of the mounting of the exhibition we thus organized in one of the rooms of Asutosh Building where he used to deliver his thought-provoking lectures to his awe-struck students a session on the 'Life and Thought of Radhakrishnan to recall and recreate the ambience of his celebrated lectures. It was certainly a unique way of paying homage to a philosopher and thinker of the highest order, a teacher par excellence, a visionary who sought to strike a balance between tradition and modernity, and a statesman who represented his country with greatest distinction in the comity of nations. Surely, the memorable programme could not have been conceived without the encouragement, guidance and support of Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi. We have donated the exhibits displayed at the exhibition to the Memorial Museum which is coming up in Chennai at 'Girija', the house which was once the residence of Dr. Radhakrishnan. But it was widely felt that the exhibits need to be preserved in print for the benefit of posterity Hence this publication was conceived. In mounting the exhibition on Radhakrishnan's 121st birthday we relied mostly on the excellent biography by Sarvepalli Gopal, the son of Radhakrishnan and one of the country's most distinguished historians, and the material available in our University archives.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan joined the Calcutta University on 8 March 1921 as the George V Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, undoubtedly India's 'most prestigious' University Chair in Philosophy of that time. The University's Vice-Chancellor Sir Asutosh Mookerjee himself initiated the appointment, strongly endorsing in the Senate Meeting of 27 November 1920 the recommendation of a Selection Committee comprising the Vice- Chancellor, Nilratan Sircar, W W Hornell, George Howells and Henry Stephen. Radhakrishnan, who at the early age of 32 succeeded another noted contemporary philosopher Brajendranath Seal to the prestigious Chair, had already won distinction as a teacher in Presidency College of Madras and the University of Mysore.

**Contents and Sample Pages**