For a man who often signed internal, non-official documents by writing "From God we receive, to God we offer" in Sanskrit (see main story), it was perhaps natural to want to leave his estate to charity. With this end in mind, he set up the M.P. Birla Foundation as the vehicle for his grand design.

To start with, the plan was to bring all the hospitals, educational institutions and trusts under the umbrella of the foundation. At a later date, Madhav Prasad, who was the founding chairman of the foundation, also planned to transfer his industrial and financial assets to it.

The structure of the M.P. Birla Foundation was revealing. Apart from himself, there were to be four life members: Kashi Nath Taparia, Priyamvada's brother and his confidant, and K.K. Birla's three daughters, Nandini Nopany, Jyotsna Poddar and Shobhana Bhartia. He also wanted to involve eminent persons and senior group executives in the running of the trust. In the former category, he chose R.S. Lodha and Dr Gauri Shankar besides Taparia. In the latter group came trusted aides like J.R. Birla, V.D. Jain and S.L. Prasad.

But he died before he could implement his plan fully. Some charitable institutions were transferred to the M.P. Birla Foundation but the major part of his estate remained dispersed across various trusts and companies.

Now, Priyamvada Birla's will has thrown a huge question mark over the foundation. J.R. Birla is dead and Jain and Prasad are no longer with the group. K.K. Birla's daughters are still there, of course, as are Taparia and Lodha. But with the estate itself caught in legal wrangling, what will happen to M.P. Birla's cherished dream remains anyone's guess.