In Odia folklore, Dharmapada was the son of a great architect named Bishu Maharana, who completed the construction of the Sun Temple at Konark, Odisha on the eastern coastline of India, in a single night to save 1,200 craftsmen from execution from the then King Langula Narasingha Deva I.
Legends say he sacrificed his own life by jumping into the ocean after carrying out the final step to complete the temple top to prevent the story from spreading.
[1] According to history, the king Langula Narasingha Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty decided to build a massive temple at Konark.
Upon arrival, he found his father distressed; the crown on the Sun temple's top had yet to be completed and the king had threatened to execute all 1,200 craftsmen if they did not finish it by morning.
Extensive writing referring to the legend in the poem Dharmapada penned by Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das has probably given the character much-needed identity in modern Odia literature.