Event: Raghu Rai

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Raghu Rai in New Delhi in 2006.Credit...Ravi S Sahani/The India Today Group, via Getty ImagesMr. Rai documented major figures like the Dalai Lama and Indira Gandhi, as well as the victims of a poison gas leak in the city of Bhopal.Raghu Rai in New Delhi in 2006.Credit...Ravi S Sahani/The India Today Group, via Getty ImagesApril 27, 2026Raghu Rai, a prominent photojournalist who captured many of India’s political milestones and major tragedies, as well as figures who shaped the country’s modern history, died on Sunday in New Delhi. He was 83.His death was confirmed by his daughter Avani Rai. She said he had been undergoing treatment for lymphoma.Over a career spanning more than 60 years, Mr. Rai photographed Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama and Indira Gandhi, India’s only female prime minister. He also captured daily life in images of the Taj Mahal, a Mumbai train station and other landmarks.Mr. Rai’s harrowing photographs of the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, earned him the Padma Shri award, one of India’s highest civilian honors.He also captured indelible images of a 1984 toxic gas leak in the Indian city of Bhopal that killed thousands of people.“No matter how many shots I took,” he wrote of that disaster in a 2014 essay, “one couldn’t capture the scale of it.”Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.Related ContentAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT

South China Morning Post via Getty ImagesFor more than five decades, Raghu Rai photographed the country with rare intimacy and clarityRich tributes continue to pour in for Raghu Rai, India's most celebrated photojournalist, following his death at the age of 83.Rai spent more than five decades documenting the country, capturing moments from political power to everyday life with striking clarity.From the aftermath of the gas tragedy in central India's Bhopal to the years of militancy in northern India's Punjab, which killed thousands in the 1980s, Rai's images shaped how India saw its most defining events. His work did not merely record history but shaped how a nation saw it. It helped define modern Indian photojournalism, earning global recognition and influencing generations of photographers.Raghu Rai/The India Today Group via Getty ImagesRaghu Rai's photo of Indira Gandhi meeting people during an election campaign in 1977Rai began his career at The Statesman newspaper in 1966 and later worked as photo editor at India Today and Sunday magazines.He joined globally recognised photography agency Magnum Photos in 1977 - often seen as one of the highest recognitions in photography - with the support of pioneering French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose work had a lasting influence on him. Rai's photographs of former prime minister Indira Gandhi remain among the most enduring visual records of political power in India. He captured her across settings - from charged election campaigns to closed-door Congress party meetings.Raghu Rai / The India Today Group via Getty ImagesRaghu Rai's photo of Indira Gandhi attending a meeting of the Congress party in 1980Rai's photographs of celebrated figures - such as veteran playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Satyajit Ray, painter MF Hussain, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and others - have often captured a sense of devotion between art and audience.Rai's work during the years…