Lakshman Kumar Mahapatra

Life Childhood Mahapatra was born on 29 October 1929 in Nilagiri, a Notified Area Council in Balasore district in the Indian state of Odisha. in 1960. where he headed the anthropology department from 1967 to 1989. He started teaching about Southeast Asia as a regular course in collaboration with the Department of Geography and History. This was the first time for a course on Southeast Asia to be taught at an Indian university. He also introduced specialities such as "Development Anthropology" and "Demographic Anthropology" at Utkal University which was also the first for an anthropology department in India.

He was appointed as the vice-chancellor of Utkal University in 1986. He was later the vice-chancellor at Sambalpur University from 1989 to 1990. He served as a Consultant to the World Bank for rehabilitation of displaced populations in India during 1985-1988 and later during 1995–96.