Odisha’s doyen of sculpture Raghunath Mohapatra

 In the last seven decades of his journey with stones, Odisha’s legendary sculptor and Rajya Sabha member Raghunath Mohapatra, with his distinct style of carving, decorated the State’s cultural landscape with masterpieces that are difficult to replicate today.

A pioneering figure in the world of sculpture and a Padma Vibhusan awardee - second highest civilian honour after the Bharat Ratna - the 78-year-old icon was born into a Biswakarma family in Puri’s Pathuria Sahi. As a young boy who feared going to school, he dropped out in Class III to carry forward his family’s legacy. His initial training in sculpting began at the age of eight under his grandfather Aparti Mohapatra, a sculptor who worked with the royal family of Puri for upkeep of Shri Jagannath Temple. 

Although he did not have any formal training in sculpture, Mohapatra was an encyclopedia on Shilpa Sastra and began sculpting idols based on religious Hindu iconography from an early age. His passion for stone sculpting was a strong one which remained unwavering till his last breath. What made his craft unique is Mohapatra never took the help of machines and the only tools he used were a chisel and a hammer. 


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