Philosopher king Maharaja Shriram Chandra Bhanj Deo a maker of modern Odisha was born on December 17, 1870 to the royal family of Mayurbhanj state. His father Maharaja Krishna Chandra Bhanj Deo died when Shri Ram Chandra was only 11 years old.
He ascended the throne in 1892 and till his ascension the State was ruled by authorised representative of British India. Maharaja Shri Ram Chandra was married to Lakshmi Kumari Devi, daughter of a Zamindar of Panchkot in Bengal from whom the successive rulers of Mayurbhanj, Purnachandra and Pratapchandra born.
Maharani Lakshmi Kumari died of small pox in 1902 and in her honour Shri Ram Chandra built the famous Maharani Lakshmi Kumari dharmasala in the palace-temple road in Deaulasahi, the main street of Baripada, where visitors could stay with free food from the nearby temple such as Shri Raghunathjew, Shri Haribaladevjew, Shri Gouranga Dev.
The development and welfare activities of the Maharaja placed him as a maker of modern Odisha.
His contributions in education, healthcare, language, literature, revenue, mining and geology, railway, local self-government, English education, printing press, leper asylum, cooperative movement with Sir Daniel Hamilton, etc., were immense. The State's first museum and three aerodromes all are notable milestones.
He was a great patron of famous Chhau dance and the first president of the Utkal Sammilani in 1903 which paved the way for Odisha as a separate State on the basis of language. He was a great philanthropist as he had donated a large sums for the establishment of SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack. The Printing Press brought from London was donated to Utkal University by his son Shri Pratap Chandra, who was also the first Prochancellor of Utkal University. It is popularly known as Maharaja Shri Ram Chandra Bhanj UU Press.
His contribution to Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi is also well known. A study chair was funded to UU in his name by his son Pratap Chandra.
The High Court, the Mayurbhanj State Bank, narrow gauge train from Talbandh to Rupsa, mining exploration in Gorumahisani, Badampahad on which steel plant was set up in Kalimati, presently Jamshedpur, aerodrome at Amarda, Dandbose, Rajabasa, first Museum of Jubilee Library were some of his architecture marvels of his tenure.
This maker of modern Odisha was patroniser to many icons like Gopabandhu, Madhusudan, Fakirmohan, Radhanath and a connoisseur of art, culture and heritage who was conferred the title of Maharaja by Lord Minto in 1903 at the imperial Delhi Durbar.
Meanwhile, the Shriram Chandra Bhanj Study Chair of th Utkal University and another one in the North Odisha University need to be revived to remember the Maharaja's sparkling contribution of his time as these will act as a signposts for the posterity.