Born on 23rd January, 1809 in Badgaon village under Dhama P.S. in a Royal Family. He was the descendant of Madhukar Sai. He ascended the throne of Sambalpur in the year 1827. But he was not accepted to the British power. He was strong, independent & popular. British authorities were afraid of his temperament for which they had broken Orissa into four parts and merged each part in the adjoining province. The British autorities wanted a puppet ruler who would dance to their tunes. 

Debarring Surendra Sai, British authorities appointed Rani Mohan Kumari the widow of Maharaja Sai, & using her as an umbrella, started looting the peoples. Soon the people of Sambalpur rose in revolt & British suspected Surendra Sai to have instigated the peoples. A British troop under Captain Wilkinson was sent from Hazaribagh to suppress the revolt, which he did. But in order to hoodwink the public the Rani was declared as exploiting the people and she was deposed in 1833. 

Surendra Sai was kept in solitary confinement in the Fort of Asirgarh till he breathed his last on the 28th day of February 1888 at the age of 79. Thus, he spent 41 years in jail in two phases; the first being 17 years from 1840 to 1857 and the second being 24 years from 1864 to 1888, just to ensure that British authority remains unchallenged in Orissa.

Popularly known as a warrior, Surendra Sai led a revolution against the British Rulers, assembling thousands of protesters. He was incarcerated  by the than British Rulers and breathed his last on 28th, February, 1884. 

We Oriyas do always boast of him as our man who spent life in Jail for more years than any in the world on political ground. He was incarcerated by the British authorities for forty-one years simply because they were afraid of him.

The world gives credit to Nelson Mandela for maximum years of incarceration. But it is Surendra Sai whose imprisonment is a world record unsurpassed till date.

He was also called the Shivaji of Orissa. He is regarded as the foremost fighter of Freedom movement of the Country. He was a Lion whom the British Empire could neither dare to kill nor to see moving freely on his soil.