Upendra Maharathi (1908-1981) Padma Awardee was born in the village Narendrapur, Puri, Odisha in 1908. He went to Government School of Art and Crafts, Kolkata in1925 and did his specialisation in Painting. In 1942, he was appointed as a special Designer in the Department of Industry, Government of Bihar. His own artworks of about a thousand paintings, part of National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA, New Delhi)’s vast collection, intimately fuses his life story with that of his art, blending modernity with a sense of community. His advocacy constructed the foundation of the Institute of Industrial Research in Patna in 1956. After his death Bihar government dedicated the Institute to his memory. It is now know as “Upendra Maharathi Shilp Anusandhan Sansthan”. He imbibed Western and indigenous techniques of art, craft, architecture and died in 1981.