Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja 

Kabi Samrat Upendrabhanja is to Utkal, what Shakespeare is to England and Tagore is to Bengal. He reigns supreme over the heart of artistic Oriyas. Though the exact time when the poet flourished has not been so far determined, it is conj- ectured by the scholars that, he lived between the period 1685 to 1725 A.D. He was a scion of the royal house of Ghumusara, a small principality in the district of Ganjam. His grand father Dhananjaya Bhanja was a great poet and wrote Raghunath Bilash (The Ramayana), Ratna Manjari (A poetical romance) etc. Which provided models to Upendrabhanja for writting.

His first wife was the sister of the king of Nayagarh and the daughter of the king of Banapur was his second wife, who was an erudite princess and gave Upendra Bhanja poetical inspiration in an abundant measure. It is also said that, he propitiated God Raghunath of Odagam of Nayagarh and through his grace could write so many immortal works. Among the illustrious works- Baideheesha Bilasha(with"Ba" initial for each line), Rasalila, Brajaleela, Subhadra Parinaya(with "Sa" intial for every line), Prema Sudhanidhi, Labanyabati, Koti Brahmanda Sundari, Kala Koutuka (with "Ka" intial for every line) etc.