Sculptor Anant Chougule Builds Business on 6-Inch Shivaji Statues as Hindu Right Fuels Demand
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 31
Sculptor Anant Chougule Builds Business on 6-Inch Shivaji Statues as Hindu Right Fuels Demand
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 31
25-year-old Anant Ganpat Chougule says a clay Shivaji figurine he made during the Covid lockdown launched his career after a YouTube video drew buyers.
6-inch Shivaji statuettes are now selling strongly enough for Chougule to open a storefront in Sawantwadi, though most of his business still comes online.
Demand has risen alongside a broader campaign by the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP to elevate the 17th-century Maratha king as a Hindu icon.
That boom also reflects the sharper politics around Shivaji’s image, with some supporters framing his battles against the Mughals in ways that carry anti-Muslim overtones.
Is a sculptor's booming business a sign of cultural revival or the commercialization of political division?
With courts reinterpreting history and law, is India's secular foundation now at a tipping point?