''Rajmata'' Benita Roy (born 18 August 1907, date of death unknown) was a

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( ) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the Bay of Bengal, eponymous bay. Bangladeshi nationality law, Bangladeshi citizenship was fo ...

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

litterateur An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and minister. She was the forty-ninth

Rani ''Rani'' () is a female title, equivalent to queen, for royal or princely rulers in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It translates to 'queen' in English. It is also a Sanskrit Hindu feminine given name. The term applies equally to a ...

of the

Chakma Circle The Chakma Circle (, ), also known as the Chakma Raj (), is one of three hereditary chiefdoms (or "Circles") in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of modern-day Bangladesh. The Chakma Circle encompasses parts of Rangamati Hill District and Dighinala an ...

in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts (), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, refers to the three hilly districts within the Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh, bordering India and Myanmar (Burma) in the east: Kh ...

. Roy served as the

Rajmata ''Rajamata'' () is a Sanskrit term used for the mother of a king (''raja''). It is also employed to address the queen dowager. In the contemporary period, it is most commonly used to address the head of a royal dynasty in India. Examples * Rajama ...

during the kingship of

Tridev Roy Raja Tridiv Roy (; Chakma: 𑄖𑄳𑄢𑄨𑄘𑄨𑄝𑄴 𑄢𑄧𑄠𑄴) sometimes spelled Tridev Roy, (14 May 1933 – 17 September 2012) was a Pakistani politician, diplomat and writer who was the Minister of the Minority Affairs in Zulfi ...

and Debashish Roy. She was a member of Bangladesh's first delegation to the UN General Assembly in 1972, and a minister in the Bangladeshi government from 1975 to 1978.

Family and the arts

Benita Sen was born on 18 August 1907 in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England to law student Saral Chandra Sen. Her paternal grandfather,

Keshub Chandra Sen Keshub Chandra Sen (; also spelled Keshab Chunder Sen; 19 November 1838 – 8 January 1884) was an Indian philosopher and social reformer who attempted to incorporate Christian theology within the framework of Hindu thought. Born a Hindu i ...

, was a Bengali Hindu reformer and Brahmo Samaj leader. Her mother's sister,

Naina Devi Mata Naina Devi is a town and a municipal council in Bilaspur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. History According to legends and also written in Veds and Purans, Goddess Sati burnt herself alive in Yagna, which distressed L ...

, was a singer of Hindustani classical music. Benita attended

Bethune College Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. ...

in Calcutta until age 18, when she married Raja Nalinaksha Roy and became the forty-ninth Rani of the Chakma Circle. She was widowed in 1951. Benita was a close associate of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

, under whose patronage she launched the first literary magazine in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Named ''Garika'', it was the first publication of its kind to feature

Chakma language Chakma (; autonym: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European language family, whose speakers are known as the Chakma or the Daingnet people. It has 740,000 speakers, with 60% residing in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Banglade ...

poetry.

Liberation War and government

During the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

in 1971, Roy opened up the

Rangamati Rangamati () is a town and the administrative headquarters of Rangamati District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The town is located at 22°37'60N 92°12'0E and has an elevation of above sea level. Demographics According to th ...

Palace as a shelter for civilians. In 1972,

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...

appointed her as a member of Bangladesh's first delegation to the UN General Assembly. The Pakistani government at the time sent a counter delegation led by her son Tridev Roy, who sided with the Pakistani establishment in the liberation war. During the political and constitutional crises of the mid-1970s, Roy served in the Bangladeshi government as Minister of Land Administration and Land Reforms (December 1975 - January 1976) and Minister of Relief and Rehabilitation (February 1976 - June 1978).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Benita 1907 births Year of death missing Women government ministers of Bangladesh Diplomats for Bangladesh Bangladeshi women diplomats Ministers of disaster management and relief of Bangladesh Ministers of land of Bangladesh Advisers of Sayem ministry 20th-century Bangladeshi women