[5] The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1985.
[6] Dave was born on 25 September 1931 at the northern Gujarat village of Badpura as one of the four children of a rural family of modest means.
[5] He started his career as a commercial artist doing banners and sign boards but slowly made his mark as a painter, which earned him several notable assignments such as at the VIP Lounges of JFK Airport (New York) and at the Air India booking offices in New York, Los Angeles, Rome, Sydney, and Perth.
[8][7] The mural at the airport was published by the New York Times on its front page on 5 February 1964 under the title, Little Gujarat.
He has done several murals of large proportions which incorporate wood block painting, stone carving and weaving.