 Bangdel was born in 1919 in Darjeeling, India to a family from Khotang district of Eastern Nepal.His father was Rangalal Rai, and his mother's name was Bimala Rai.He spent his youth in a Himalayan village and, later, graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Calcutta in 1945 with a first-class-first.