The Incredible Story of Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia's Journey

Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, also known as P. K. Mahanandia, was born in 1949 in Athmallik, Orissa, India. He is an Indian-born Swedish artist who is famous for his remarkable journey from New Delhi to Borås in 1977. He traveled over seven thousand miles, mostly on a second-hand bicycle, to meet the love of his life, Charlotte Von Schedvin.
Mahanandia was born into an Odia-speaking weaver family in the village of Kandhapada of the Athmallik sub-division in the district of Angul. Despite facing hardships due to his Dalit caste, he managed to graduate high school and was accepted to art school. He later joined the Government College of Art and Crafts, Khallikote, and moved to the College of Art, Delhi in 1971.
While studying in Delhi College of Art, he gained fame in portraiture by drawing the portrait of Indira Gandhi. It was here that he met Von Schedvin on December 17, 1975. She was a student in London who had driven all the way to India in a van for 22 days and went to visit PK to have her portrait done. They fell in love with each other and married.
Mahanandia is well known in Sweden as an artist and works as an adviser of art and culture for the Swedish government. His paintings have been exhibited in major cities of the world and have found places in the prestigious UNICEF greeting cards. On January 4, 2012, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree (Degree of Honoris Causa) from Utkal University of Culture (UUC) in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. He was also designated as the Odia Cultural ambassador to Sweden by the Government of Odisha.

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Proud be he was Odia ❤

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Nothing is caste system everyone God's children

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