The man who gave physical form to India's most charged symbol of sovereignty is gone. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, 21 October 2026 expressed deep grief at the passing of Thiru Vummidi Ethiraj, the Tamil Nadu artisan who crafted the historic Sengol — the sacred scepter that came to embody India's break from colonial rule and, seven decades later, its confident assertion of civilisational continuity.

The craftsman behind the scepter

Posting in both English and Tamil, Shah called Ethiraj 'a living legend whose craft symbolised India's journey as a sovereign nation, free from the clutches of colonialism.' In Tamil, he wrote: 'வரலாற்றுச் சிறப்புமிக்க செங்கோல் உருவாக்கத்தில் முக்கியப் பங்காற்றிய புகழ்பெற்ற சிற்பி' — 'the celebrated sculptor who played a key role in creating the historically significant Sengol.' That personal invocation in the artisan's own language carried weight; Ethiraj was a figure rooted in Tamil craft tradition, and the bilingual tribute acknowledged precisely that.

The Sengol Ethiraj crafted traces its original moment to 1947, when it was commissioned as a ritual prop for the transfer of power from British hands to independent India — drawing on a Chola-era tradition in which a scepter blessed by a high priest was handed from one sovereign to the next. For decades the scepter's whereabouts and its significance were obscure, its story dimmed by the dominant Nehruvian ceremonial vocabulary of that era.

From obscurity to Parliament's Speaker chamber

That changed decisively on 28 May 2023, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi installed the Sengol beside the Speaker's chair during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. The moment was framed — and fiercely debated — as a restoration of a pre-colonial Indian tradition into the very heart of the republic's legislative architecture. Regardless of where one stood on that argument, Ethiraj's workmanship suddenly became a matter of national record.

Shah's tribute underlined exactly this arc: 'The Modi government enshrined in Parliament the Sengol he crafted for the ceremony marking the transfer of power to the hands of Indians, honouring the ancient tradition embedded in our culture. His contribution will remain an indelible part of our history.' For a craftsman who had worked in relative anonymity, the 2023 installation had already transformed his legacy — his death now closes a chapter that the government had only recently reopened.

Shah's condolence and what follows

The Home Minister concluded with condolences to Ethiraj's 'bereaved family, friends and countless admirers,' mirroring the Tamil text: 'குடும்பத்தினர், நண்பர்கள் மற்றும் எண்ணற்ற அபிமானிகளுக்கு எனது ஆழ்ந்த இரங்கலை' — 'my deepest condolences to the family, friends and countless admirers.' Heritage organisations and Tamil artisan communities are likely to mourn a master craftsman whose work now stands permanently in the republic's most important chamber. Whether the central or Tamil Nadu government announces a formal state honour remains to be seen, but Shah's tribute at the level of a senior Cabinet minister signals the regard in which Ethiraj's contribution is held at the highest levels of government.

A craftsman's hands shaped a scepter. A government placed it at the centre of sovereign power. History, for once, recorded the artisan's name.