One ordinary evening, I did something most people rarely do - I searched my own name. Not on Google for job listings or portfolio mentions. But really searched it. Its roots, its story, its ancestors.

My full name is Rudra Sai Pavan Fanindra Maharana

And somewhere between those syllables hides a universe I didn’t know I carried. Rudra is an avatar of Lord Shiva, Sai conveys a sense of saintliness, and Pavan means wind - interpreted as purifier.

My name, Fanindra is derived from Sanskrit "Phani/Fani" (meaning snake or serpent) + "Indra" (king or lord) and basically means Lord of Serpents. It's often associated with Lord Vishnu, who is depicted resting on the serpent king, Adisesha.

The Curiosity

It began as simple curiosity. I wanted to know what my surname Maharana really meant, where it came from, what it once stood for. A few hours of research turned into a quiet rabbit hole through ancient scriptures, family stories, and forgotten traditions.

That’s when I discovered something unexpected, and honestly, kind of poetic. What I do today as a UX designer isn’t new to my bloodline. It’s ancestral.

The Lineage of Makers

My ancestors belonged to the Vishwakarma lineage, the community of divine architects and craftsmen in Hindu tradition. Lord Vishwakarma, our mythical forefather, is described in the Rig Veda as “the divine craftsman who designed the heavens and measured the earth.”

It stopped me in my tracks. My ancestors are basically craftsmen, designers, architects, and I am a designer, only the medium changed. When I saw this, I smiled because it felt like looking at my own job through a 3,000-year-old mirror.

My ancestors shaped temples and rituals like the famous Puri Jagannadh temple. I shape interfaces, user experiences and interactions. Both are, at heart, experiences designed for emotion and purpose.

The Vishwakarma Mindset

As I read further, I realized something deeper, Lord Vishwakarma's design wasn’t about decoration. It was about flow. Temples were designed like journeys.

Every corridor, every light source, every carving guided a person from the outer chaos to the inner calm - from distraction to devotion.

Drawing parallels from this into current design principles, form follows function & function follows empathy. It’s the same principle my ancestors practiced centuries ago, just expressed differently.

What This Discovery Meant to Me

From that night, I stopped seeing UX design as just a profession. It became a continuation of a much older story, a lineage of creators who turned ideas into experiences. I’m not just designing for usability; I’m designing for meaning. My work connects the modern with the mythical, the digital with the divine act of creation. And perhaps that’s what design truly is the art of making something feel inevitable, yet invisible

~ Rudra Sai Pavan Fanindra Maharana