>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women scientists to Category:20th-century Indian scientists non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women scientists to Category:20th-century Indian scientists non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot

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{{infobox person
| name = Suniti Devi
| movement =
| profession =
| nationality = [[Indian people|Indian]]
| citizenship =
| known for = Social worker, Educator
| occupation =
| image = Suniti Devi, Maharani of Cooch Behar.jpg
| known =
| death_place = Ranchi
| death_date = 10 November 1932 (aged 68)
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]]
| birth_date = 30 September 1864
| image caption = Her Highness, Maharani Suniti Devi, CIE of Cooch Behar State in the year 1902 at London
| footnotes =
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
'''Suniti Devi''' (or '''Sunity Devi''') '''[[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]''' (1864–1932) was the Maharani of [[Princely state]] of [[Coochbehar]], 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==
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 the Narayan left for London for higher studies immediately after their marriage.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kaye |first=Joyoti Devi |title=Sucharu Devi, Maharani of Mayurbhanj: a Biography |year=1979 |pages=18, 24 |publisher=Writers Workshop |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JjQbAAAAMAAJ&q=suniti+devi+cooch+behar}}</ref>

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.
<ref>[http://www.geni.com/people/Maharani-Sunity-Devi/4551603 Maharani Sunity Devi] at geni.com</ref><ref name=z>[http://coochbehar.nic.in/htmfiles/history_book5.html Royal History: Book of Facts and Events], Ch. 5.</ref>

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 [[Order of the Indian Empire|GCIE]] and she was awarded [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]. Suniti Devi became the first Indian women to be awarded CIE.<ref name="books.google.co.in">{{cite book|title=North East India and her Neighbours|year=1995|publisher=Indian Institute of Oriental Studies and Research|pages=21, 24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUJuAAAAMAAJ&q=suniti+devi+cooch+behar}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chaudhurani |first1=Sarala Devi |author-link=Sarala Devi Chaudhurani |last2=Ray |first2=Sukhendu |year=2010 |title=The Many Worlds of Sarala Devi: A Diary |pages=76 |publisher=Berghahn Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U2pDxinD28AC&q=suniti+devi++&pg=PA76 |isbn=978-81-87358-31-2}}</ref>

Her husband had set up in her name a girls school named ''Suniti College'' in 1881 which was later named ''[[Suniti Academy]]''. Suniti Devi was the brain behind the establishment of the school.<ref name=z/><ref name=a>[http://coochbehar.nic.in/htmfiles/sunity/sunity_home.html Suniti Academy]</ref>

She was an educationist 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.<ref name=a/> 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Womens crusader for 125 years - Cooch behar school salutes Suniti devi on foundation day|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060208/asp/siliguri/story_5818461.asp|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=27 June 2012|location=Calcutta, India|date=8 February 2006}}</ref>

She along with her sister Sucharu Devi also financed the foundation of [[Maharani Girls' High School, Darjeeling|Maharani Girls' High School]] at [[Darjeeling]] in 1908.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ramusack |first=Barbara N. |author-link=Barbara N. Ramusack |title=The Indian Princes and Their States |volume=3 |year=2004 |pages=144 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kz1-mtazYqEC&q=suniti+devi+cooch+behar&pg=PA144 |isbn=978-0-521-26727-4}}</ref> 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.<ref>"[http://www.indiatogether.org/2010/aug/wom-rehab.htm Hidden behind a modest restaurant, decades of worth]", indiatogether.com 31 August 2010</ref>

She died suddenly in the year 1932 at [[Ranchi]].

==Titles==
1887 - [[Order of the Crown of India|Companion of the Order of the Crown of India]] on the occasion of her attending with her husband Nripendra Narayan, the [[Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria|Golden jubilee celebration of Queen Victoria]].<ref name="books.google.co.in"/>

==Legacy==
A road in her home town, [[Cooch Behar]] is named ''Sunity Road'' after her.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Suniti Devi}}
* {{Gutenberg author|id=3755}}
*Sunity Devee (1921), ''[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofi00suniuoft The Autobiography of an Indian Princess]'', London: J. Murray, on the Internet Archive

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Suniti}}
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:Indian female royalty]]
[[Category:Queen mothers]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Crown of India]]
[[Category:People buried at Brahmo Cemetery, Nabodebalaya]]
[[Category:History of West Bengal]]
[[Category:People from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Indian women philanthropists]]
[[Category:Indian philanthropists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian scientists]]
[[Category:Bengali scientists]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian scientists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:19th-century women educators]]
[[Category:20th-century women educators]]
[[Category:Indian queen consorts]]

Suniti Devi - Revision history

>Scorpions13256: Copying from Category:20th-century Indian women scientists to Category:20th-century Indian scientists non-diffusing subcategory using Cat-a-lot