The man who gave physical form to India's national pride and its most revered icons, sculptor Ram Vanji Sutar, passed away at his home in Noida on Wednesday night. He was 100 years old and would have turned 101 on February 19. Sutar's hands shaped some of the country's most recognisable landmarks, from the towering Statue of Unity in Gujarat to the serene Gandhi statue in Parliament, leaving behind a legacy cast in bronze and stone.
A Life Dedicated to Sculpting Icons
Born in 1925 in Gondur village, Maharashtra's Dhule district, Sutar hailed from a family of carpenters. His first lessons in craft came from watching his father, Vanji Hansraj Sutar, at work. By age six, he was formally apprenticed to him. His formal artistic training began under sculptor Shriram Krishna Joshi and later at Mumbai's prestigious Sir JJ School of Art, from where he graduated as a gold medallist.
His journey as an independent sculptor began in earnest after a brief stint with the government. He joined the archaeology department in 1954, working on restoring sculptures at the Ajanta and Ellora caves. In 1958, he moved to Delhi to work with the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity but left within a year to pursue his own path. His first major work was a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in 1947, the year of India's Independence, installed in Dhule. This piece remained emotionally closest to him throughout his life.
Bridging Eras: From Nehru to Modi
Ram Sutar's career was a remarkable bridge across India's political history. His earliest commissions came under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, while his most ambitious projects were realised during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His sculpting journey took a significant leap with a commission from Nehru himself to create a sculpture depicting the toil behind the Bhakra Nangal Dam, though the 50-foot bronze installation remained incomplete due to funding constraints.
Over the decades, his chisel gave life to a pantheon of freedom fighters and leaders. His works include statues of Jyotirao Phule, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Govind Ballabh Pant, B.R. Ambedkar, and Subhas Chandra Bose. His 16-foot statue of Mahatma Gandhi, installed in Parliament in 1993, became one of his most replicated works, with copies gifted by the Indian government to nations like France, Russia, Italy, Argentina, Barbados, and the UK.
The Grandest Expression: Statue of Unity and Beyond
Sutar's philosophy and skill reached their zenith with the creation of the 597-foot Statue of Unity, dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat. He was 94 when the world's tallest statue was completed. The commission came after Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, admired a Patel statue Sutar had designed for Ahmedabad airport. The project involved nearly five years of intensive design work, with Sutar personally overseeing every proportion to convey Patel's authority on an unprecedented scale.
Even after this landmark, Sutar never slowed down. He did not believe in retirement. Among his last completed works were a 91-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj unveiled in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg in May 2024, and a 77-foot-tall statue of Lord Ram unveiled by PM Modi in Goa in November 2024. A 30-foot bronze statue of Jatayu, crafted at his Noida workshop, was installed in Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi complex in January 2024.
According to his family, he was actively planning what would have been his tallest work yet—a 600-foot statue of Lord Ram in Ayodhya, intended to surpass the Statue of Unity. His son, Anil Sutar, an architect and sculptor who runs the family workshop, affirmed, "That promise will be kept."
National Tributes and an Enduring Legacy
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the nation in paying tribute to the master sculptor. On social media platform X, the PM called Sutar a master who "immortalised national pride for generations to come." He added, "His works will keep inspiring artists and citizens alike." Condolences poured in from across the political spectrum, with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath describing his death as an irreplaceable loss to the art world.
Sutar was cremated with state honours at the Sector 94 crematorium in Noida on Thursday. He is survived by a legacy that stretches across the length and breadth of India—from the 21-foot statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Amritsar and the equestrian statue of Shivaji Maharaj in Parliament to the Krishna-Arjun monument in Kurukshetra. His family runs two large workshops in Sahibabad and Noida, employing around 250 workers.
In his final years, as mobility became a challenge, the execution of work passed to his son Anil and grandson Sameer, a third-generation sculptor. Yet, Sutar remained creatively engaged until the very end, discussing designs and proportions from his bed. "He worked till his last breath," said Anil Sutar. The master sculptor, a recipient of the Padma Shri (1999) and Padma Bhushan (2016), has left behind not just statues, but a permanent, physical narrative of India's journey, its ideals, and its heroes.
