The 91-year-old Andhra University, on Tuesday stood tall among the universities in the country, and one man who is responsible for its glorious nine-decade journey was Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
The second President served as the second Vice-Chancellor of the university from 1931 to 1936.
The university was founded in 1926 and it was during those formative days Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had laid the strong foundation of the university.
Apart from getting sizeable grants and contribution from the then British government, he motivated a number of Rajahs and Maharajahs, including the Vizianagaram and Jeypore royal families, to donate to the development of the university. He was also responsible for the starting of some of key departments.
It was Bharat Ratna Sarvepalli who started the combined Colleges of Arts, Science and Technology in 1931 with Padmabhushan Mamidipudi Venkata Rangayya as the founder principal.
He also started the technical education by initiating a course in sugar technology, which was the harbinger of the present department of Chemical Engineering and the Andhra University College of Engineering.
Intellectual hub
Though the university was in its nascent stage it was an intellectual hub in the country, as Sarvepalli attracted some of the best teaching minds.
It was during his period that L.M. Chawla (mathematician) from Lahore, Ludwig Wolfe (Chemistry) from Germany, T.R. Seshadri (Science), Mokshagundam Visweswarayya (Technology), C.V. Raman (Physics), Hiren Mukherjee (History and politics), V.K.R.V. Rao (Social Sciences) and Humayun Kabir, were invited to teach in the university, said former Rector of AU A. Prasanna Kumar.
Historian Sarvepalli Gopal, in the biography of his father, wrote that Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was very fond of AU and to bring in a holistic development, he even tried to rope in the legendary Indian Cricketer C.K. Nayudu as the cricket coach of the university.
Gopal also noted that Radhakrishnan gave top priority to quality and never let caste, creed and local or non-local issues come in the way of recruiting eminent teachers and that attracted the wrath of many in the university, as early as in 1932.
C.V. Raman’s tribute
The greatest tribute to Radhakrishnan as Vice-Chancellor had come from Nobel Laureate C.V. Raman. “He waved a hand and a university has sprung up. In his frail body is enshrined a great spirit — a great spirit which we have learned to revere and admire and even worship.” (S. Gopal’s book ‘Radhakrishna a biography’).
