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Raghunath Mohapatra
Raghunath Mohapatra
Member of Parliament; Rajya Sabha
	In office; 14 July 2018 – 9 May 2021
Preceded by	Anu Aga
Succeeded by	Mahesh Jethmalani
Constituency	Nominated (Arts)
Personal details
Born	24 March 1943; Sasan Padia, Puri, Odisha
Died	9 May 2021 (aged 78); Bhubaneswar AIIMS, Odisha, India
Spouse	Rajani Mohapatra (m. 1966)
Children	5
Education	8th
Occupation	Architect, sculptor
Awards	Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, 2018 Padma Vibhushan, 2013; Padma Bhusan, 2001; Padma Sri, 1976

Raghunath Mohapatra (24 March 1943 – 9 May 2021)^[3] was an Indian architect, sculptor, and a Nominated Member of Rajya Sabha. He was awarded Padma Shri in 1975 and Padma Bhushan in 2001.^[4] He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2013 on occasion of 64th Republic Day of India.^[5]

Biography

Born in Puri (Odisha),^[6] Mohapatra was awarded Padma Shri by the then President of India Fakiruddin Ali Ahmed in 1976 and also received the Padma Bhushan award in 2001.

He was nominated by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India as a Member of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in 2000.

He served as a Senior Instructor and Superintendent of Handicraft Training & Designing center, Government of Odisha, Bhubaneswar since 1963.^[7]

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 until 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.

In the 1960s when he was only 20, Mohapatra carved stone idols of deities and devadasis and sold them on the streets of Pathuria Sahi. The beauty of his craft came to the notice of officials of Handicraft Training and Designing Centre at Bhubaneswar and they offered him a trainer's job in the institute. Here, he went on to become a senior instructor, a master craftsman and superintendent of the institute.

A decade after, he won the prestigious Padma Shri in 1974 for creating a six-feet-tall grey stone statue of Sun god which is displayed at the Central Hall of Parliament. Twenty-seven years later in 2001, Mohapatra was honoured with the Padma Bhushan. And in 2013, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his contribution towards enriching the field of stone sculpting.

In the period between, the legendary craftsman went on to create several masterpieces like Buddha statues in white sandstone at Dhauligiri Shanti Stupa, Konark horses at the Barabati Stadium and Master Canteen, Mukteswar Gate at Surajkund and a gigantic lotus at Rajiv Gandhi's samadhi at Vir Bhumi, both in New Delhi besides, Buddha statues in monasteries at Ladakh, Japan and Paris. Within Odisha, one of his most ambitious works was the Tara Tarini temple in Ganjam district which he built as per the ancient Kalinga temple architecture style. Mohapatra also built Jagannath temples at Nigeria, Bangalore, Balasore, a Laxmi temple in Visakhapatnam and a Sai temple in Jharsuguda.

Even after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2018, Mohapatra continued to mentor budding sculptors who can now take care of Odisha's temple legacy. In his lifetime, he trained thousands of youths from within Odisha and other states in traditional sculpting and temple designing at his workshop at Sisupalgarh square on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

He dreamt of building another Sun temple. In 2018, he had laid the foundation stone for his dream project – an 'Adityanarayan' temple – near Satyabadi along Puri-Bhubaneswar Highway. The temple, he had said, would resemble the Sun temple at Konark. He, however, could never begin work on making the dream a reality. As the news of his death due to COVID-19 spread on Sunday evening, leaders across the country including the Prime Minister and Chief Minister, artists and art lovers from across the nation paid tributes to the sculptor.

He died in Bhubaneshwar in May 2021 of a coronavirus infection during the 2020–21 pandemic.^[8]

Awards

Padma Vibhushan, 2013^[9]^[10]
Padma Bhushan, 2001
Padma Shri, 1976^[11]
National Award for Sculpture, 1964^[12]

References

^ "Rajya Sabha MP Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra dies of Covid-19 | Sambad English". Sambad English. Bhubaneswar: sambadenglish.com. 9 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
^ Kanungo, Laxminarayan (2013). "Raghunath Mohapatra gets Padma Vibhushan, Padma Shri to 3 Odias | Odisha Reporter". odishareporter.in. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013. He did not study beyond Std VIII
^ Ambaly, Anwesha (20 October 2016). "Salute to doyen". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
^ "Padma Awards". pib. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
^ "Sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra to get Padma Vibhushan". odishanow.in. Archived from the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2013. Born in Puri, Mohapatra
^ "Profiles: Padma Vibhushans of 2013 – DNA". dnaindia.com. 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013. Raghunath served as a senior instructor and superintendent
^ Barik, Satyasundar (9 May 2021). "Eminent sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra is dead". The Hindu.
^ "Press Information Bureau English Releases". pib.nic.in. 2013. Retrieved 5 February 2013. Shri Raghunath Mohapatra
^ "The Hindu : News / National : Padma Vibhushan for Yash Pal, Roddam, S.H. Raza, Mohapatra". thehindu.com. 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013. Renowned sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra and painter S. Haider Raza were chosen for Padma Vibhushan
^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954–2013)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
^ Barik, Satyasundar (27 January 2013). "An award for my devotion to sculpture: Mohapatra". The Hindu. Retrieved 7 January 2017.