Cyril John Radcliffe, First Viscount Radcliffe

(March 30, 1899, Llanychan, Denbighshire, England-April 1, 1977, Warwick, England). British Civil Servant. Drew the Map Partitioning India and Pakistan. Lawyer. Director-General, Minister of Information, 1941-1945. Chairman, India-Pakistant Boundary Commission, 1947. Named Law Lord, 1949. Made a Viscount, 1962. Author of The Problem of Power; The Law and Its Compass; Mountstuart Elphinstone; Not in Feather Beds (1968). Member of the British Academy, 1968. Death date sometimes given as April 2, 1977.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

(September 5, 1888, Tiruttani, Madras, India-April 17, 1975). 2nd President of India, 1962-1967. Philosopher. King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science, University of Calcutta, 1921-1929. Principal of Manchester College, Oxford, England, 1929. Knighted, 1931. Vice Chancellor, Andhra University, 1931-1936. Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics, University of Oxford, 1936-1949. Indian Ambassador to the U.S.S.R., 1949-1952. First Vice President of India, 1952-1962. Received Bharat Ratna award, 1954. President of India, May 13, 1962-May 13, 1967. Prolific author.

Ranjit Rae

(February 24, 1957-Alive). Indian Ambassador to Hungary, 2006-Current. Second Secretary and Acting High Commissioner of India to Uganda, 1984-1986. Under-Secretary of External Affairs of India, 1986-1991. First Secretary, Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, 1991-1994. Deputy Secretary of External Affairs of India, 1994-1995. Press Secretary to the President of India, 1995-1997. Director, Office of the Minister of External Affairs of India, 1998-2000. Assigned to United Nations Peace-Keeping Mission in Kosovo, 2000-2002. Joint Secretary of External Affairs, 2002-2006. Indian Ambassador to Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006-Current.

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

(December 10, 1878, Thorapalli, Salem District, Tamil Nadu, India-December 25, 1972, Madras, India). 2nd and Last Governor-General of India, 1948-1950. Known as Rajaji or C.R. Member, Indian National Congress. Served time in prison during freedom struggle. Member, Governor's Council, 1946. Governor-General of India, 1948-January 29, 1950. Union Minister without Portfolio, 1950. Union Home Minister, 1950-1951. Chief Minister of Madras, 1952-1954. Received the Bharat Ratna. Became a critic of Nehru and founded the Swatantra Party, 1959. An advocate of free enterprise. Poet. Considered a profound thinker on spirituality and religion. Author of Mankind Protests.

Right Reverend Bishop N. John S. D. Raju

Bishop, Episcopal Missionary Diocese of Eluru, India, 2006-Current. Social Workers. Pastor, Madepalli Parish, India, 1986-1999. Ordained Priest, Syrian Orthodox Church, May 23, 1999. Vicar, St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Eluru, India. Director, Andhra Mission. Bishop, Diocese of Krishna Godavary, Indian Christian Mission Church, November 15, 2004. Bishop, Episcopal Missionary Diocese of Eluru, India, February 11, 2006-Current

Ram Dass

(April 6, 1931, Boston, Massachusetts-Alive). New Age Guru. Born Richard Alpert. Psychologist. Faculty, Stanford University and University of California, 1958-1963. Researcher, Harvard University. Experimented with LSD in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Aldous Huxley, and others. Dismissed from Harvard faculty as a result of his research, 1963. Continued privately-funded research on LSD to 1967. In India, met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba, who gave him his name of Ram Dass. Immersed himself in spiritual studies. Founder, Hanuman Foundation, 1974. Fouinder, Ram Dass Tape Library Foundation. Author of Be Here Now (1971), The Only Dance There Is, Journey of Awakening, Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying and other inspirational texts. Co-Founder, Seva Foundation.

Jagjivan Ram

(April 5, 1908, Chandwa, Bihar, India-July 6, 1986, New Delhi, India). Deputy Prime Minister of India, 1977-1979. Known as Babuji. Freedom fighter from the backward classes. Founding Member, All-India Depressed Classes League, 1935. Member, Indian National Congress. Member, Lok Sabha, 1936-1986. Imprisoned twice for his participation in Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement. Union Minister of Labour, 1946-1952. Union Minister for Communications, 1952-1956. Union Minister for Transport and Railways, 1956-1962. Union Minister for Transport and Communications, 1962-1963. Union Minister for Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation, 1966-1967. Union Minister for Food and Agriculture, 1967-1970. Union Minister of Defence, 1970-1974, 1977-1979. Union Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, 1974-1977. Founding Member, Congress for Democracy party (aligned with Janata), 1977. Deputy Prime Minister of India, March 23, 1977-August 22, 1979. Founder, Congress (J).

Sir Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman

(November, 1888, Thiruchinapalli, Tamil Nadu, India-November 21, 1970, Bangalore, Karnataka, India). Physicist. Uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Professor of Physics, University of Calcutta, 1917-1948. Discovered the "Raman Effect" in spectrum analysis, 1928. Knighted by Great Britain, 1929. Won the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1930. Director and Professor, Tata Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, 1934-1948. Founded the Indian Academy of Sciences, 1934. Director, Raman Institute of Research, Bangalore, 1948-1970. Received the Bharat Ratna, 1954.

His Holiness Swami Ramdevji Maharaj

(1965, Alipur, India-Alive). Hindu Swami. Also known as Baba Ramdev. Born Ramkishan Yadav. Became a Hindu monk, joining the Kalva gurukul (monastery). Traveled the Himalayas for several years, discovering medicinal plants. Established Divya Yoga Mandir Trust, 1995. Initiated into the ascetic order of Swami Shankerdevji Maharaj, 1995. Opposes the caste system and all forms of discrimination. Teaches Pranayama and Yoga through television programs, Yog Science camps and other means. Noted as a controversial spiritual and Ayurvedic healer.

Swami Ranganathananda Maharaj

(December 15, 1908, Trikkur, Kerala, India-Alive). 13th President, Ramakrishna Mission and Math and Hindu Swami. Joined Ramakrishna Order, 1926. Initiated into Sannyasa by Swami Shivananda, 1933. Worked as a cook, dishwasher, and house-keeper for the Order, then became secretary and librarian. President, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Karachi, 1942-1948. Secretary, New Delhi Branch, Ramakrishna Math and Mission, 1949-1962. Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Director of Humanistic and Cultural Studies, and Editor of Ramakrishna Institute Monthly Journal, Calcutta, India, 1962-1967. Lecturer and Author. Awarded first Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration, 1986. Vice President, Ramakrishna Mission and Math, April, 1989. President, Ramakrishna Mission and Math, September 8, 1998-Current.

General Kotikalapudi Venkata Krishna Rao

(July 16, 1923-Alive). Soldier, Indian Army, 1948-1983. General and Chief of Staff, Indian Army, 1981-1983. Governor of Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura, 1984-1989. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, 1989-1990, 1993-1998.

Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao

(June 28, 1921, Karimnagar, Hyderabad, India-December 3, 2004, New Delhi, India). 12th Prime Minister of India, 1991-1996. Freedom fighter. Member, Indian National Congress. Congress Party Minister of Law and Information of Andhra Pradesh, 1962-1964; Minister of Law and Endowments of Andhra Pradesh, 1964-1967. Minister of Health and Medicine of Andhra Pradesh, 1967. Minister of Education of Andhra Pradesh, 1968-1971. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, 1971-1973. Congress Party Member of Lok Sabha, 1977-1996. Minister for External Affairs of India, 1980-1984, 1988-1989, 1992-1993. Minister of Home Affairs of India, 1984. Minister of Defence of India, 1984-1985. Minister of Human Resource Development of India, 1985-1988. 12th Prime Minister of India, 1991-1996. Convicted of bribery in connection with a effort to win a no-confidence vote, 2000. Cleared of charges, 2002. Charged with other crimes, but acquitted on all counts.

Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao

(1925, Hyderabad, India-Alive). Indian Composer, Choreographer, and Flutist. Conducted the inaugural national anthem at the Red Fort, ushering in Indian Independence, 1947. Noted for his film music, including the score for Gandhi.

Satyajit Ray

(May 2, 1921, Calcutta, India-April 23, 1992, Calcutta, India). Film Director, Photographer, Painter, Musicologist, and Author. Founder, Kanak Pictures, c. 1948. Directed 28 feature films, 5 documentaries, and three television films, including Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajita (1956), Parashpathar (1958), Rabindranath (1961), Aranyer Dinratri (1969), Piku (1982), Ganoshatru (1989), Agantuk (1991). Received 40 awards from the Indian government and at least 60 international awards. Author of Biswa Chalacchitra, Ekei Bole Shooting, and Our Films Their Films among others. Considered one of the greatest film makers of all time.

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

(May 18, 1913, Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh, India-June 1, 1996, Bangalore, India). 6th President of India, 1977-1982. Member, Constituent Assembly of India, 1947. Minister for Prohbition, Housing and Forests of Madras, 1949-1951. President, Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, 1951. Member of Rajya Sabha, 1952, 1964. Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra State, 1953-1954. Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, 1956, 1962-1962. President, Indian National Congress, 1959-1962. Union Minister for Steel and Mines, 1964. Union Minister of Transport, Civil Aviaition, shipping and Tourism, 1966-1967. Congress Party Member of the Lok Sabha, 1966-1969, Janata Party, 1977 (Speaker, 1967-1969, 1977). 6th President of India, 1977-1982.

Havel's House of History

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Swami Roberto

(April 9, 1963, Turin, Italy-Alive). Founder and Spiritual Leader, Universal Soul, Movement for Spiritual Union. Followers assert his supernatural origin and miraculous powers. Founder, Universal Soul. Received "One Mandir for Peace" Award, September 11, 2002.

Most Reverend Bishop Stanley Roman

(June 4, 1941, Punalur, India-Alive). 13th Roman Catholic Bishop of Quilon, India. Ordained Priest, December 16, 1966. Rector, Carmelgiri Seminary. 13th Bishop of Quilon, India, October 16, 2001-Current.

Raja Rom Mohan Roy

Ahmed Salman Rushdie

(June 19, 1947, Bombay, India-Alive). Essayist and Novelist. Noted for his magical/fantasy themes set in the Indian subcontinent. Winner of the Booker Prize. Author of Grimus (1975), Midnight's Children (1981), Shame (1983), The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey (1987), The Satanic Verses (1988), Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990), Imaginary Homelands (1992), East, West (1994), The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999), Fury (2001), Step Across This Line (2002), and Shalimar the Clown (2005). His Satanic Verses contained supposedly irrevent depictions of the prophet Muhammad, causing the book to be banned in Arab countries and a fatwa pronounced against his life by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The Islamic edict sentencing him to death remains in effect. Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, June, 2007.