Gangadhar Rath was a former Advocate General of Odisha.He was a literary man himself and instituted the Sahitya Bharati Honorary Award to encourage literary men. Gangadhar was born in 1922 at Bagalpur in the undivided Cuttack district and present day Jagatsinghpur district. He later practiced law as a profession and practiced as an advocate in the Odisha High Court. He was appointed as Standing Counsel in 1959 and Public Prosecutor in 1963. From 1972 to 1979 and 1982 to 1990, he served as Advocate General of Odisha. He established Alaka College and Gangadhar Rath Foundation. Since 1995 Sahitya Bharathi has been awarded by the Gangadhar Rath Foundation. Social worker and doctor Nirupma Rath was his wife. Before marriage, she was known as Nirupama Mohanty. Jayant Rath is her eldest son. Gangadhar Rath died on March 15, 2008 while undergoing treatment at the Cuttack Large Hospital.
Books Info
| Books name | Gangadhar Rath/ଗଙ୍ଗାଧର ରଥ |
| Editor | Dr Bijayanand Singh |
| No Of pages | 154 |
| Publisher | Pragati Utkal Sangha, Rourkela |
| Publication | 2015 |
| Printed At | Odisha Printing Works |
| Distributor | NA |