PUNJAB PROVINCE — Indian photographer Raghu Rai died at the age of 83, his family announced in a statement on Sunday. Rai documented India's social and political life through historic events and intimate portraits over a career spanning six decades.

Born in a village in what is now Pakistan's Punjab province before the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent, Rai was a construction engineer by training. He was introduced to photography by his photographer brother six decades ago, and published his first picture, a donkey gazing straight into his camera, in The Times of London. "I can never be true to my experiences without a camera," Rai said.

He moved to photojournalism, working with several major Indian media houses during the 1960s and 70s, before later working independently to depict India's complexity. He worked all his life in India, shooting on film and digital formats in both black and white and color.

Rai documented the 1971 independence war of Bangladesh and the 1984 gas leak in the central Indian city of Bhopal that killed an estimated 25,000 people. His photographs from Bhopal became visual records of India's worst industrial disaster. He also published dozens of photo-books, including one on the Taj Mahal, and created intimate portraits of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honours, in 1972, and won the inaugural Academie des Beaux-Arts Photography Award. He was a member of Magnum Photos, having been nominated by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Tributes followed the announcement of his death. "He didn't just take photographs, he preserved our nation's memory," opposition leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X.

Indian parliamentarian and author Shashi Tharoor also paid tribute. "To the world, he was an incomparable master of photography, the visionary who captured the pulsating heart and soul of India," Tharoor said. "Your vision will forever be the lens through which India is seen," he added.