The Birth of a Trust: How Shanti Dehdan Charitable Trust Was Formed After the Passing of Bodhisattva Shanti Sahu

The Woman Behind the Trust

Bodhisattva Shanti Sahu

1945 – 2025  |  Village Chiglawan, Lalitpur

Bodhisattva Shanti Sahu was born into a humble family in Village Chiglawan, Lalitpur, in 1945. For eight decades she lived guided by a single principle: serve others without expectation. She was a quiet force of compassion — a mother, a homemaker, and above all, a humanitarian whose heart beat for the well-being of those around her. Her entire life was a testament to kindness, equality, and the boundless potential of selfless love.

Her moral compass was shaped by the values instilled by her parents and by the philanthropic ideology of her life partner, Shri Khushal Chandra Sahu (Founder), who has always believed in serving humanity beyond personal boundaries. Together they lived a life rooted in principle — and it was in her final, most vulnerable moments that her greatest act of courage emerged.

She Chose Light Even at the End

In October 2025, as Shanti Sahu's health declined and she sensed her time approaching, she called her family close. What she said next would change everything. Rather than focusing on grief, she focused on giving. She expressed clearly and calmly that she wanted her entire body — every part of her — to be donated for the welfare of society after her death.

These words — spoken with clarity and peace — were not just a request. They were a vision. A vision that even death could be turned into life for others. Her wish to donate her body for medical education, research, and organ transplantation was fulfilled. She became the first body donor whose selfless act would inspire the creation of an entire institution dedicated to this cause.

On 7 October 2025, Shanti Sahu attained Nirvana. Her body was donated exactly as she had wished — a gift to science, to medicine, to humanity. This day is now observed annually as her Nirvana Day, a day of remembrance and renewed commitment to the mission she inspired.

The Birth of Shanti Dehdan Charitable Trust

Inspired by her extraordinary courage and guided by her final wish, Shanti Dehdan Charitable Trust (SDC Trust) was established in 2025 by Shri Khushal Chandra Sahu. Named in her honor, the Trust was created with a single, powerful purpose: to preserve her humanitarian spirit and spread the culture of body donation, organ donation, and blood donation across India.

The Trust was built not on grief, but on gratitude — gratitude for a life lived in service, and a determination to ensure that no such wish ever goes unfulfilled again. Every campaign, every pledge, every seminar conducted by SDC Trust carries forward the torch that Shanti Sahu lit with her last breath.

A Journey of Inspiration

The Mission Continues

Today, Shanti Dehdan Charitable Trust actively campaigns for organ donation awareness across India. Through seminars, community outreach, and the work of dedicated trustees and volunteers, the Trust helps individuals and families navigate the process of pledging their organs, eyes, and bodies.

The Trust also maintains a network of blood donors, conducts awareness programs in schools and institutions, and publishes educational resources — all in the spirit of the woman who started it all: a quiet, gentle soul from Lalitpur who chose, in her final moments, to give everything she had left.

Shanti Sahu's final gift was not just her body — it was hope. Hope that death can be transformed into life. Hope that one person's courage can inspire thousands. And hope that the light we carry, if tended carefully, can illuminate the world long after we are gone.