Kabi Samrata Upendra Bhanja () was a 17th-century Odia poet-composer of classical Odissi music. He is most known for his Odissi songs and kabyas written in the Odia language, primarily Baidehisa Bilasa, Labanyabati & Koti Brahmanda Sundari. He was born during 1670 (opinions differ between 1670 and 1688) in Kulagarh, Ghumusar zamindari, present day Kulada near Bhanjanagar, 80 kms from the Silk City Brahmapur, Odisha and died during 1740 (again opinions vary). His first wife was the sister of the king of Nayagarh and the daughter of the king of Banapur was his second wife, who was an erudite princess and gave Upendra Bhanja poetical inspiration in an abundant measure. His grandfather King Dhananjaya Bhanja was a great poet and wrote Raghunatha Bilasa (The Ramayana), Ratna Manjari (a poetical romance) etc., which provided models to the prince for writing. But unlike his grandfather, he preferred his entire life to poetry rather than to ruling over a kingdom. He had a thorough training in Sanskrit classical literature and mastered Sanskrit dictionaries such as Amara Kosha, Trikanda Kosha and Medini Kosha. He even wrote a dictionary Geetabhidhana in Odia for helping poets. The town of Bhanjanagar is named after him. The music of Upendra Bhanja is central to Odissi music, the traditional classical music of the state of Odisha and Bhanja is widely respected as one of the greatest Odissi composers of all time. Kabyas Upendra Bhanja wrote some 52 books of which only 22 are available now. Due to the absence of a printing press, many of the hand-copied books have been lost. Some of his eminent kabyas are Baidehisha Bilasa (with "Ba" initial for each line), Rasalila, Brajaleela, Subhadra Parinaya(with "Sa" initial for every line), Labanyabati, Premasudhanidhi, Rasika Harabali, Subhadra Parinaya and Chitrakabya Bandodhya, Labanyabati, Koti Brahmanda Sundari, Kala Koutuka (with "Ka" initial for every line), Satisha Bilasa" (with initial 'Sa' initial every line), "Damayanti Bilasa" (with 'Da' initial each line) and "Padmabati Parinaya" (starts with 'Pa') etc. The first published work of Upendra Bhanja is "Rasapanchaka". The first dictionary "Gita Abidhan" was written by Upendra Bhanja in Odia literature. 'Kabi Samrata' was not the first title of Upendra Bhanja. He was rather entitled as "Birabara" as written by Bhanja himself in his kabyas. The epithet Kabi Samrata is found only in the early part of 19th century in a book written by Mahendra Patnaik. Upendra Bhanja contributed 32,300 words