In Raman’s heyday, romanticism was still an important feature of science. His extraordinary achievements and personality served as a magnet for generations of students attracted to physics. Raman’s students, spread over the breadth of the country, included many of the most accomplished scientists of post-independence India. But Raman in his own inimitable way was also a creator of institutions; not always were these mere constructs of bricks and mortar. He recognized the need for scientific journals in India and helped in the starting of Current Science in 1932. Soon thereafter in a powerful editorial he recognized the importance of an Academy for science. A man of action, driven by impulse, often impatient with his surroundings, Raman founded the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1934, over which he imperiously presided until his death in 1970. Today, the Academy publishes many of India’s scientific journals and retains a strong tradition of promoting scientific activity. The Academy’s recent forays into the area of science popularization would have surely gladdened the heart of its founder. Raman’s institute is today the Raman Research Institute, focusing on frontier areas of research, ranging from astrophysics and astronomy to liquid crystals. In the post-Raman era the institute has embraced government funding and is one of the many centres of advanced research directly funded by the Department of Science and Technology. Following Raman’s passing in 1970 all these institutions were suddenly orphaned, an inevitable consequence of his intensely personalized approach to their functioning. Fortunately, in an environment where institutional decay is all too common, the Raman legacy was nurtured through the difficult days of the post-Raman period by Sivaraj Ramaseshan, for whom this act was indeed a labour of love. It is largely a consequence of his efforts and those of many other dedicated individuals that all of Raman’s creations are both viable and vigorous today. The Current Science Association, the Academy and the Raman Research Institute coexist in harmony on a sylvan campus, much of whose greenery can be traced back to Raman. Current Science and the Academy are institutions, which have evolved characteristic styles of functioning that have withstood the vagaries of time. Raman was always concerned about the building of large national laboratories, which he feared would eventually become ‘mausoleums of science’. His own creations have acquired a life of their own and are a fitting monument to the man. Indeed, they may survive long after the lustre of the Nobel prize has begun to fade.