Udam was born in Rakvere in 1936 and graduated from Tartu University as a geologist, but soon became interested in Eastern culture, including Ancient Iranian literature.
[1] In Moscow, Udam defended his candidate's thesis in 1971 (“On the Special Semantic Aspects of the Persian Sufi Terminology”).
Udam has translated several works from Arabic (Ibn Tufail), Persian (Rudaki, Saadi, Ali Safi), Urdu, Tajik, and other languages into Estonian, including Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat.
He also worked as an editor and contributed to Estonian Encyclopedia (Eesti Entsüklopeedia).
Just before his death, Udam managed to finish the translation of the Quran into Estonian.