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Her Highness Maharani Suniti Devi Narayan (née Sen), (30 September 1864 – 10 November 1932), was an educator, social worker, author, and the Maharaja of the princely state of Cooch Behar, British India.
She was the mother of four sons and three daughters: sons Rajendra Narayan (b.1882), Jitendra Narayan (b.1886), Victor Nityendra Narayan (b.1888), and Hitendra Narayan (b.1890), and daughters Sukriti Devi (b.1884), Pratibha Devi (b.1891) and Sudhira Devi (b.1894). Maharani Sunity Devi at geni.com Royal History: Book of Facts and Events, Ch. 5.
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. Sukriti Devi married Jyotsna Nath Ghoshal, the eldest son of Swarnakumari Devi (Rabindranath Tagore's sister) and Janaki Nath Ghoshal. Suniti Devi's 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.
Her husband had set up in her name a girls' school in 1881 which was later named Suniti Academy. Suniti Devi was the brain behind the establishment of the school. Suniti Academy
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. She had arranged for palace cars to bring the girl students from home to school and back. In an effort to avoid any controversy, she ordered that the windows of the cars should be covered by curtains.
She, along with her sister Sucharu Devi (Maharani of Mayurbhanj) also financed the foundation of Maharani Girls' High School in Darjeeling in 1908. She was the President of the State Council and also the first President of All Bengal Women's Union in 1932 and worked along with other women's rights activists from Bengal like Charulata Mukherjee, Saroj Nalini Dutt, T. R Nelly and her sister Sucharu Devi." Hidden behind a modest restaurant, decades of worth", indiatogether.com 31 August 2010
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 Mughal princesses Mumtaz Mahal, Reba, Zebunissa and Nur Jahan. She also authored a short story collection, "Bengal Dacoits and Tigers", published in 1916 by Thacker, Spink and Company, Calcutta. Her final publication was "The Life of Princess Yashodara: Wife and Disciple of the Lord Buddha," London: Elkin Matthews and Marrot Limited, 1929; this has since been reprinted by Kessinger Legacy Reprints (www.kessinger.net).
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.
Legacy
The school Sunity Acadamey, the Sunity Road and a water body the "Sunity Tank" (also known as "Bairagi Dighi") all located in her home town Cooch Behar is named after her.
External links
Categories: 1932 Deaths, 1864 Births, Indian Female Royalty, Queen Mothers, Companions Of The Order Of The Crown Of India, Burials At Brahmo Cemetery, Nabodebalaya, People From Kolkata, Indian Women's Rights Activists, 20th-century Indian Women Educational Theorists, Founders Of Indian Schools And Colleges, Indian Women Philanthropists, Indian Philanthropists, Bengali Scientists, Bengali Hindus, 19th-century Indian Women Educators, 20th-century Indian Women Educators, Indian Queens Consort, 20th-century Indian Educators, 19th-century Indian Educators, Indian Educators, 20th-century Indian Educational Theorists, 19th-century Indian Educational Theorists, 19th-century Indian Women Educational Theorists, Indian Reformers, Indian Social Reformers, Indian Social Workers, Social Workers From West Bengal, Activists From West Bengal, Indian Women Activists, Indian Feminists, Indian Feminist Writers, Indian Non-fiction Writers, Collectors Of Fairy Tales, People From The Bengal Presidency
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