Sculptor dreams of carving Mahatma’s statue at India Gate

DHULE, MARCH 5: His sculptures of Mahatma Gandhi adorn cities across the globe, but having the Father of the Nation's statue at India Gat...

DHULE, MARCH 5: His sculptures of Mahatma Gandhi adorn cities across the globe, but having the Father of the Nation’s statue at India Gate — the monument that symbolises martyrs — remains a distant dream for nationally-renowned sculptor Ram Sutar.

The 74-year-old Padmashree awardee, who has carved sculptures ranging from personalities like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to mythological characters in over 40 years as a professional sculptor, sums up his philosophy on life as, “as an artiste grows older, his art gets younger”.

Sutar, who was felicitated at a function held at Dhule on March 1, feels that the India Gate project should serve as an inspiration for generations to come and make the Mahatma’s memory immortal.

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Sutar, who is based in New Delhi these days, rose from a humble background.

Born in a poor carpenter’s family at Gondhur village of this district in North Maharashtra in 1925, Sutar showed an inborn talent for sculpting. Encouraged by his teacher, he joined the Sir J J School of Arts in Mumbai, where he topped his batch and bagged the Mayo gold medal for modeling.

After a five-year stint — from 1954 to 1959 — with the Department of Archaeology and the exhibition division of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Sutar left Government service to become a professional sculptor.

During his tenure with the Department of Archaeology, he worked on restoring sculptures at the Ajanta and Ellora caves. His first acknowledged piece of work as a professional was the 45 feet high monument of Goddess Chambal at Gandhi Sagar Dam in Madhya Pradesh. Chiseled out of a single block, the sculpture symbolises the brotherhood’ of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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The monument won accolades from the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who assigned him the task of completing a similar 50-feet high bronze statue to be erected at the Bhakra Dam, to symbolise the work of the people who gave the country its largest dam. The model of the statue titled Triumph of Life’ was adjudged as the best among the entries of famous Indian sculptors. The task of completing the monument, however, remained unfulfilled due to paucity of funds.

Sutar also completed two gigantic 22-feet statues of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna personified as goddesses, at Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab.

Busts of Mahatma Gandhi designed by him can be found at Rajgath in Delhi, Wardha (Maharashtra) and many other countries like Malaysia, the US, Nepal, Japan and South Africa. Other works on national leaders include statues of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose and Ravindranath Tagore.