His Royal Highness Lieutenant Colonel Shri Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, ; 4 October 1863– 18 September 1911), commonly known as

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

Nripendra Narayan, was the ruler of the princely state of Cooch Behar in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

from 1863 until his death in 1911.

Early life

Nripendra Narayan was only ten months old when his father, Narendra Narayan, died in 1863. He was crowned maharaja in the same year. Since he was still an infant, the administration was handed over to the commissioner appointed by the British Governor General.Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh: Volume 100 His elder brother became the Raja of Chitaranjan and Rupnarayanpur, the land of their ancestors.Indian Royalty He studied at Wards Institute at Benaras, thereafter, at Bankipur College,

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

and lastly law at Presidency College, Calcutta. In 1878 he married Suniti Devi, a daughter of Keshab Chandra Sen of Calcutta. Immediately after marriage, he left for England for higher studies.

Family

He was the father 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), Sudhira Devi (b.1894). Of his sons, Rajendra and Jitendra later became Maharajas of Cooch Behar. Gayatri Devi and Ila Devi were daughters of his son Jitendra. His eldest daughter, Sukriti (Princess Garlie), was married to Jotsnya Nath Ghosal the nephew of the Nobel laureate poet

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 ...

. Jitendra Narayan was married to Princess Indira Devi of Baroda. His second daughter Prativa Sundari Devi married English actor, film director and author Miles Mander in 1912. His third daughter Sudhira Sundari Devi married in 1914 Alan Mander, brother of Miles.

Death

Nripendra died at the English coastal resort of

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish in the Rother District in the county of East Sussex in South East England. It is located along the Sussex Coast and between the towns of Hastings, England, Hastings ...

in September 1911. His funeral took place in Bexhill on 21 September 1911. The Maharajah had come to Bexhill to convalesce after leaving Moor Hall, Ninfield. One of his daughters had recently drowned. A memorial drinking fountain dedicated to Nripendra was opened by his second son, Maharaja Kumar Jitendra on 18 September 1913 (jitendra has just succeeded to the throne of Cooch Behar after the death of his older brother Rajendra). The fountain originally stood to the side of the Coastguards Cottages on the present site of the De La Warr Pavilion. When the cottages were demolished in 1934 to make way for the Pavilion, the fountain was re-erected in Egerton Park. It stood near to the park entrance next to the Bexhill Museum until 1963, when it was removed for restoration. It was stored in Bexhill Cemetery for a while but then subsequently disappeared. Its current whereabouts is unknown.

Work

He banned the practice of slave-keeping (''Kritadas Pratha'') in his State by introducing a law in 1884. In the year 1888, for the betterment of higher studies in his own state, he established the Victoria College now known as A.B.N. Seal College. Further, in the name of his queen, Suniti Devi, he set up a girls school called ''Suniti College'' in 1881 which was later named '' Suniti Academy''. In 1883 he constructed the Nripendra Narayan Hall in Jalpaiguri city and in 1887 granted land for the construction of the Lowis Jubilee Sanitarium in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

.Royal History
Shri. Hemanta Kumar Rai Barma, CHAPTER 6, "Kochbiharer Itihas", 2nd edition (1988), National Informatics Centre, Cooch Behar District, http://coochbehar.nic.in He also established the India Club at Calcutta in 1882.The Golden Book of India: A Genealogical and Biographical by Sir Roper Lethbridge – 2005 pp 269 He also established the Anandamayi Dharmasala for distribution of free foods for poor at Cooch Behar in 1889. He founded in Cooch Behar, the botanical garden – Narendra Narayan Park in 1892. He was also the first president of Calcutta Club founded in 1907. Maharaja was a great enthusiast of

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and promoted Cooch Behar team and would invite top quality players from all over the world. He had a cricket ground at his palace in Cooch Behar and also promoted one ground at Alipore in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. His team and team of Maharaja of Natore were rivals in cricket in

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. He was also an enthusiast of football in Bengal as one of the supporters of Mohun Bagan.

Honours

* Empress of India Medal Gold-1877 with a Sword. * Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE): 1887 * Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal: 1887 * Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal Clasp: 1897 * Delhi Durbar Gold Medal: 1903

Memorials

The Nripendra Narayan Memorial High School was founded in 1916 by his son, Maharaja Jitendra Narayan, in his memory. The Bexhill-on-Sea Historical Society published a booklet titled ''Bexhill’s Maharajah'', outlining his connections to the town.

Notes

References

* The Maharajah of Cooch Behar; ''Thirty-Seven Years of Big Game Shooting in Cooch Behar, the Duars, and Assam.'' Bombay, The Times Press, 1908. {{DEFAULTSORT:Narayan, Nripendra 1862 births 1911 deaths Bengali Hindus 20th-century Bengalis 19th-century Bengalis Companions of the Order of the Bath Founders of Indian schools and colleges Hindu monarchs Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Maharajas of Koch Bihar Indian knights Indian philanthropists People from Bexhill-on-Sea 20th-century Indian educators 19th-century Indian educators Bengali educators 19th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian educational theorists Indian social workers Indian social reformers Educators from West Bengal Social workers from West Bengal People from Cooch Behar British Indian Army personnel 20th-century Indian royalty