Introduction

Padma Shri Shri Patayat Sahu, also known as Pataet Kumar Sahu, is a distinguished traditional healer, farmer and dedicated conservationist from Nandol village in Kalahandi district of Odisha. His remarkable contribution lies in the preservation of medicinal plants, traditional healing practices and indigenous knowledge associated with Ayurveda and herbal medicine. For more than four decades, he has nurtured an extensive medicinal plant garden on his own land and has made traditional knowledge accessible to people in his community. The Government of India recognised his extraordinary contribution by conferring upon him the Padma Shri in 2023, under the field of Others, for his work associated with medicinal plants, traditional healing and agriculture.

Date and Place of Birth

Reliable publicly available records do not establish an exact date of birth for Shri Patayat Sahu. Government and reputable reports identify him as a native of Nandol village under Junagarh Block of Kalahandi district, Odisha. In 2023, contemporary reports described him as being approximately 66–67 years old, placing his birth around the mid-1950s. He received his formal education up to Intermediate in Science and subsequently devoted himself to farming, traditional medicine and the conservation of medicinal plants.

Other Awards and Honours

Before receiving the Padma Shri, Shri Sahu had already received recognition for his environmental and medicinal-plant conservation activities. Government documentation records that he was honoured with the Prakriti Bandhu Award and received the Prakriti Mitra Award twice. His work also received national attention after being highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mann Ki Baat.