The poet-politician, the man who made India a declared nuclear state and almost went to war with Pakistan before making a dramatic gesture for peace, the Nehru of the Right - these are the many shades that make Atal Bihari Vajpayee an enduring paradox of Indian politics. (In Pictures: Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Life and Legacy)
He has been conferred the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
In the six decades he was in electoral politics, Mr Vajpayee went from a politician who lost elections to a colossus who became India's only non-Congress prime minister to last a full five years in office. (At Vajpayee's Family Home in Gwalior, his Favourite Menu Being Prepared)
The son of a schoolmaster from Gwalior, Mr Vajpayee joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh or RSS in 1939 and became a full member in 1947.
Mr Vajpayee rose swiftly up the ranks but Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, remained his idol.
Vajpayee spent months in prison when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency Rule in June 1975. In the Janata government that came to power in 1977, Mr Vajpayee became foreign minister. (Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Madan Mohan Malviya)
His first entry into parliament was in 1962 through the Rajya Sabha. It was only nine years later that he won an election. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times.
The party came to the spotlight with the "Ram Janmabhoomi movement" for a temple at the site of a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya that many Hindus believe was built on the birthplace of Lord Ram.
An astute politician, Mr Vajpayee mentored the 1998 nuclear tests in Rajasthan's Pokhran, which led to sanctions against India by countries including the US and Japan.
At the same time, he also believed in grand gestures for peace. He rode the newly inaugurated bus service between Delhi and Lahore and hosted the Agra summit, despite the wounds of the Kargil conflict with Pakistan.
Vajpayee had also been vocal after the Gujarat riots of 2002, and much was made of his 'Rajdharam' comment, when asked in a press conference what the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi should do. The comment had sparked intense speculation that then Prime Minister was unhappy with Mr Modi's handling of the Gujarat riots under his watch.
For the three-time enigmatic PM, his health, however, also became a matter of concern. In 2009 he had to be admitted to the hospital barely 48 hours before his party's National Executive in Nagpur. Since then, he has been largely confined to his home in the capital, away from public life.
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