The first President of the Republic of India from 1950 to 1962, who was elected three years after his country's independence from British colonial rule in 1947. He first joined the Indian National Congress in 1911.
He was such a talented scholar while attending the University of Calcutta that at one point an examiner wrote on his answer sheet 'examinee is better than examiner'.
He was re-elected as President in 1957 and became the only Indian President to have done so.
His father Mahadev was a scholar of the Persian and Sanskrit languages.
He was a staunch supporter of the peace leader Mahatma Gandhi.
