Shrestha was born at Kathmandu to father Govinda Das Shrestha and mother Mangal Kumari Shrestha. He was married to Kamala Maiya Joshi, daughter of then Sahu Bekhalal Joshi, until her death in 1996. In 2013, he lived at Nardevi. He has seven children and many grandchildren. He has also published several books on painting. He is "Shahitya Bisharat" in Nepal Bhasa.
Shrestha was often invited to Rana palaces to teach art to the family members of Rana's. In 1960 he started organizing art exhibitions and encouraging and promoting other Nepalese artists. He also established an art gallery at his home and sold his paintings for 200 to 250 Rupees at that time. Shrestha started to paint Nanglo bamboo trays. He was offered a contract to paint hundred thousand of such Nanglo paintings but refused the offer because "Art is created from heart: to make in mass is not creating but manufacturing". Soon he was back to promoting Nepalese art and took the initiative to request King Mahendra open a College of Fine Arts in Nepal. He was involved in its establishment in 1967 and for many years took charge. He saved money and invested in the development of the college. His involvement in the development and welfare of the college took most of his time. In 1973 he was appointed as the First Campus Chief of the Fine Art Campus. In this capacity he introduced the importance of Fine Art to the students of other campuses as optional subjects for the Padma Kanya Campus, Ratna Rajya Campus, Saraswati Campus, Public Youth Campus, and Patan Campus. Shrestha wanted to open Bachelor of Fine Arts in fine arts in Nepal. For that, he proposed that a few students who had passed the Intermediate in Fine Arts be sent to Banaras and Delhi for further training. He decided to resign from the faculty if his demand was not fulfilled, he expressed. His colleagues supported him. The BFA was introduced in 1982. His goal for art education was not fulfilled, however, as he wanted to upgrade the art education at the level of Master of Fine Arts. Thus he made many plans for MFA and submitted to then Dean's Office, Ministry of Education, but was rejected. He was the Founder and Chairman of Kamala Memorial Community Service Center and Chairman of Arniko Rastriya Yuwa Sewa Kosh. Many articles had been published about his art in Rolla Daily News as well as national and international newspapers. He was honorable member of Nepal Academy, and secretariat of Nepal Kala Samiti. He has travelled in many places of Nepal and in India for the development of Nepalese Arts and was invited to Germany in 1978. He was invited by Mayor of Rolla, Missouri, United States, Joseph Morgan in 2001 and did one solo art exhibition in that country. He was also invited to Sweden in 2003 by the President of the Sweden Svenesk Unifem Committee, Analena Henarikasan and did one solo art exhibition in Sweden that year. Shrestha died on 2 March 2016, in Tripureshwor at the age of 93 after a struggle with kidney disease that led into pneumonia.
