JUNE 30, 2019 • THE WEEK 71S
adashiv Sathe made the first statue of Gandhi op-
posite the old town hall in Delhi in 1952. Now in his
early nineties, the renowned Mumbai-based sculp-
tor has made his latest statue of Gandhi at the National
Salt Satyagraha Memorial in Dandi, Gujarat. The NSSM
is a tribute to the 80 marchers who joined Gandhi during
the salt march, from Sabarmati to Dandi, in 1930.
Designed by IIT, Mumbai, and commissioned by the
Union ministry of culture, the memorial—one of its
kind—is an experiential journey recreating the spirit and
energy of the Dandi march.
“I was only 28 when I made Gandhi’s first statue,”
Sathe told THE WEEK. “When I was approached to make
the statue [at the NSSM], I decided that it should be
something that nobody has made earlier. We should not
try to copy ourselves.”
Gandhi was thinly built, said Sathe, “But he had the
strength that shook the British”.Sathe’s son Srirang, who
assisted him in making the 15-feet
tall bronze statue weighing three
tonnes, said it reflected Gandhi’s
mood during the Dandi march.
Said Srirang, “It shows the firm
stance of Gandhi. In fact, when
the statue was made, there were
a few who even said that Gandhi
looked arrogant in it.”
Sixty pieces were cast differently
at Sathe’s foundry in Oshiwara,
Mumbai, and dispatched to Dandi
as one whole piece on a trailer in- It took over two years to make the statue.
What began with a sketch was followed by
a clay model of around two-feet height and
fibre body. After which came the enlargement
engineering, with Sathe giving perspectives on
how the statue should look when a person saw
it. Srirang, who was part of the team right from
the conception stage, also helped in welding
the parts.
According to Srirang, the uniqueness of the
statue is that the emphasis is on Gandhi’s spirit
and not the physical resemblance. Physical
resemblance, according to the Sathes, is a craft
and artists should not concentrate only on it.
The statue was made after watching various
photographs and video clips of Gandhi during
the salt satyagraha.
Sathe has made statues of many leaders but
he once declined to make a statue of Swami
Vivekananda. “They wanted to put the statue
in a temple, whereas my father insisted that it
should be put on a rock. In putting the statue in
a temple, he felt that Vivekananda’s philosophy
got narrowed down,” said Srirang.
Sathe’s nephew Siddharth was involved in
making the life-size statue of Gandhi at the
Dandi memorial, which is probably the only
statue of the Father of the Nation that has its
head covered with a napkin. “I wanted the
statue to be different. In photographs and video
clips I have seen him covering his head for pro-
tection from sunlight,” said Siddharth.
Sadashiv Sathe has been making
Gandhi statues since 1952BY NANDINI OZA
MOULDING
THE IDOL
MASTER
CRAFTSMAN
Sadashiv Sathe at his house in
Kalyan, MumbaiJANAK BHAT