ABSTRACT
Throughout the centuries, new ideas and ways of thinking have been introduced into India, catalyzing philosophical thinking. This chapter focuses on the thought of four philosophers who typify each in his own way, the renewal of traditional philosophy in modern India. They are, Mohandas Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghose, Mohammed Iqbal, and Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. The Jain community in which Gandhi grew up is noted for its strict adherence to the principle of ahimsa, providing an example that made a great impression on young Gandhi. Sri Aurobindo, the great philosopher-yogi of Pondicherry, gained his initial fame as a leader of a Bengal revolutionary group advocating violent overthrow of British rule. Mohammed Iqbal, lawyer, philosopher, and world-renowned poet, was one of the leaders of the twentieth-century Muslim renaissance and of India's independence movement. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, wrote many philosophical articles and books. One of Radhakrishnan's main projects was to work out a satisfactory philosophy of religion.
