Suniti Devi: Difference between revisions
Marcocapelle (talk | contribs) →External links: removed parent category of Category:Bengali Hindus |
No edit summary Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Maharani of Indian state of Cooch Behar (1864–1932)}} |
{{Short description|Maharani of Indian state of Cooch Behar (1864–1932)}} |
||
{{infobox person |
{{infobox person |
||
| name = |
| name = Sunity Devi |
||
| movement = |
| movement = |
||
| nationality = [[Indian people|Indian]] |
| nationality = [[Indian people|Indian]] |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}} |
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}} |
||
'''Sunity Devi''' '''[[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]''' (30 September 1864 – 10 November 1932) was the Maharani of the [[princely state]] of [[Cooch Behar]], [[British India]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sitter: H.H. Maharani Siniti Devi|url=http://lafayette.org.uk/coo2484a.html|publisher=Lafayette Negative Archive}}</ref> |
|||
==Early life== |
==Early life== |
||
Revision as of 17:49, 2 December 2022
Sunity Devi | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Her Highness Maharani Suniti Devi, CIE of Cooch Behar in the year 1887 in London | |
| Born | 30 September 1864 |
| Died | 10 November 1932 (aged 68) Ranchi |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Known for | Social worker, Educator |
Sunity Devi CIE (30 September 1864 – 10 November 1932) was the Maharani of the princely state of Cooch Behar, British India.[1]
Early life
She was a daughter of the renowned Brahmo Samaj reformist, Keshub Chandra Sen of Calcutta. She was married to Nripendra Narayan (1863-1911), the Maharaja of Cooch Behar in 1878, when she was only fourteen years of age. She stayed at her father's place for two years after marriage, as Narayan left for London for higher studies immediately after their marriage.[2]
She was the mother of four sons and three daughters: sons Rajendra Narayan, Jitendra Narayan, Victor Nityendra Narayan, and Hitendra Narayan, and daughters Pratibha Devi, Sudhira Devi, and Sukriti Devi. [3][4]
Her daughters Sudhira and Pratibha married two brothers, Alan and Miles Mander, of Wightwick Manor in England. The Manor is part of the National Trust and open to visit. Of her sons, Rajendra Narayan and Jitendra Narayan later became Maharajas of Cooch Behar. Gayatri Devi and Ila Devi were daughters of her son Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur.
Work
In 1887, her husband, Nipendra Narayan was awarded GCIE and she was awarded CIE. Suniti Devi became the first Indian women to be awarded CIE.[5] She attended the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in 1898 and Delhi Durbar of 1911 with her husband, the Maharaja of Cooch Behar. She along with her sister, the Sucharu Devi, were noted for their elegant style dressing.[6]
Her husband had set up in her name a girls school named Suniti Academy in 1881 which was later named Suniti Academy. Suniti Devi was the brain behind the establishment of the school.[4][7]
She was an educationalist and a women's rights activist at heart, gave annual grants for the institution, exempted the girl students from paying tuition fees and also rewarded the successful students.[7] She had arranged for palace cars to ferry the girl students from home to school and back. In a further effort to avoid any controversy she ordered that the windows of the cars carrying the girls to school to be covered by curtains.[8]
She along with her sister Sucharu Devi (Maharani of Mayurbhanj) also financed the foundation of Maharani Girls' High School at Darjeeling in 1908.[9] She was the President of State Council and also the first President of All Bengal Women's Union in 1932 and worked along with other women's right activist from Bengal like Charulata Mukherjee, Saroj Nalini Dutt, T. R Nelly and her sister Sucharu Devi, the Maharani of Mayurbhanj.[10]
She authored a book "The Beautiful Mogul Princesses", which was published in 1918 by W. Thacker & Co. 2, Creed Lane, Ludgate Hill, London. This book contains the intimate life stories of the Mogul Princesses Mumtaza Mahal, Reba, Zebunnissa and Nurjahan. She also authored a book "Bengal Dacoits and Tigers" published in 1916 by Thacker, Spink and Company, Calcutta.
She died suddenly in the year 1932 at Ranchi.
Titles
1887 - Companion of the Order of the Crown of India on the occasion of her attending with her husband Nripendra Narayan, the Golden jubilee celebration of Queen Victoria.[5]
Legacy
A road in her home town, Cooch Behar is named Sunity Road after her.
References
- ^ "Sitter: H.H. Maharani Siniti Devi". Lafayette Negative Archive.
- ^ Kaye, Joyoti Devi (1979). Sucharu Devi, Maharani of Mayurbhanj: a Biography. Writers Workshop. pp. 18, 24.
- ^ Maharani Sunity Devi at geni.com
- ^ a b Royal History: Book of Facts and Events, Ch. 5.
- ^ a b North East India and her Neighbours. Indian Institute of Oriental Studies and Research. 1995. pp. 21, 24.
- ^ Chaudhurani, Sarala Devi; Ray, Sukhendu (2010). The Many Worlds of Sarala Devi: A Diary. Berghahn Books. p. 76. ISBN 978-81-87358-31-2.
- ^ a b Suniti Academy
- ^ "Womens crusader for 125 years - Cooch behar school salutes Suniti devi on foundation day". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. 8 February 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ^ Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian Princes and Their States. Vol. 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-521-26727-4.
- ^ "Hidden behind a modest restaurant, decades of worth", indiatogether.com 31 August 2010
External links
- Works by Suniti Devi at Project Gutenberg
- Sunity Devee (1921), The Autobiography of an Indian Princess, London: J. Murray, on the Internet Archive
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
- 1932 deaths
- 1864 births
- Indian female royalty
- Queen mothers
- Companions of the Order of the Crown of India
- People buried at Brahmo Cemetery, Nabodebalaya
- People from Kolkata
- Indian women's rights activists
- Indian women educational theorists
- Founders of Indian schools and colleges
- Indian women philanthropists
- Indian philanthropists
- Bengali scientists
- Bengali Hindus
- 19th-century women educators
- 20th-century women educators
- Indian queen consorts
- Educationists from India
- 20th-century Indian educators
- 19th-century Indian educators
- Indian educators
- Indian women educators
- Indian educational theorists
- 20th-century Indian educational theorists
- 19th-century Indian educational theorists
- Indian reformers
- Indian social reformers
- Indian social workers
- Social workers from West Bengal
- Activists from West Bengal
- Indian activists
- Indian women activists
- Indian feminists
- Indian feminist writers
- Indian non-fiction writers