Gayatri Devi

File:GayetriDeviniña.jpg

Born into a Hindu royal family, she had Bengali and royal Koch ancestry on her paternal side, while her maternal side was of royal Maratha descent.{{Cite magazine |title=Remembering the Rajmata of Jaipur: 10 facts about Maharani Gayatri Devi |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/maharani-gayatri-devi-rajmata-jaipur-978697-2017-05-23 |magazine=India Today |date=23 May 2017 |access-date=4 January 2025}}{{Cite web |title=Maharani Gayatri Devi {{!}} Rajput Queen {{!}} Queens of India {{!}} Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II |url=https://lapolo.in/blog/maharani-gayatri-devi/#:~:text=Born%20in%20London%20(23%20May,her%20flair%20for%20equestrian%20sporting. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424231229/https://lapolo.in/blog/maharani-gayatri-devi |archive-date=24 April 2024 |access-date=4 January 2025 |website=lapolo.in}} Her father, Prince Jitendra Narayan of Cooch Behar, presently in West Bengal, was the younger brother of the Yuvaraja (Crown Prince). She was related to Keshub Chandra Sen (A prominent figure in the Bengal Renaissance and social reformer) through her paternal grandmother, Suniti Devi, who was the daughter of Keshub Chandra Sen.{{Cite book |last=Devi of Jaipur |first=Gayatri |title=A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur |publisher=Rupa & Co |year=1995 |isbn=978-81-716-7307-0 |location=New Delhi |pages=33 |language=English}}{{Cite web |last=Sansar |first=Swapnil |date=23 May 2024 |title=Maharani Gayatri Devi |url=https://swapnilsansar.org/2024/05/gayatridevi24/#:~:text=Maharani%20Suniti%20Devi%20was%20the,at%20the%20age%20of%2090. |access-date=4 January 2025 |website=Swapnil Sansar}}{{Cite web |title=The Maharani's Family |url=https://maharaniofjaipur.tripod.com/id18.htm#:~:text=(above%20left)%20The%20ever%20gracious,princes)%20of%20Cooch-Behar. |access-date=4 January 2025 |website=maharaniofjaipur.tripod.com}} Her mother was Maratha Princess Indira Raje of Baroda, the only daughter of Maratha King, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, an extremely beautiful princess and a legendary socialite. Early in her life, her uncle's death led to her father ascending the throne (gaddi). Gayatri studied at Glendower Preparatory School in London,{{citation | title=A princess remembers: the memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur | first=Gayatri | last=Devi | publisher = Rupa & Co. | year=1996 | isbn=978-81-7167-307-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CoWAQAAMAAJ&q=Glendower | page=87}} Patha Bhavana of Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan,[https://web.archive.org/web/20090802072657/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938254,00.html Whistle-Stopping Maharani] Time, 10 November 1961. and later in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she travelled with her mother and siblings, then studied secretarial skills in London School of Secretaries; Brillantmont and Monkey Club London.

She first met Sawai Man Singh II when she was 12 and he had come to Calcutta to play polo and stayed with their family.{{cite magazine |title='I Had Shot My First Panther Before I Turned Thirteen': Gayatri Devi turned 13 in 1932 |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?238724 |date=20 October 2008 |magazine=Outlook }} She married Sawai Man Singh II Bahadur on 9 May 1940.

Gayatri was a particularly avid equestrienne. She was an excellent rider and an able Polo player. She was a good shot and enjoyed many days out on 'Shikars'. Gayatri was fond of cars and is credited with importing the first Mercedes-Benz W126, a 500 SEL to India which was later shipped to Malaysia. She also owned several Rolls-Royces and an aircraft. Gayatri had one child, Prince Jagat Singh of Jaipur, late Raja of Isarda, born on 15 October 1949, who was granted his uncle's fief as a subsidiary title. Jagat Singh was the half-brother to Bhawani Singh, who was the eldest son of his father born by his father's first wife.

As a style icon, Gayatri was shot by photographer Cecil Beaton for Vogue.{{Cite web |title=Sawai Man Singh II, Maharaja of Jaipur; Maharani Gayatri Devi, Rajmata of Jaipur |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw145922/Sawai-Man-Singh-II-Maharaja-of-Jaipur-Maharani-Gayatri-Devi-Rajmata-of-Jaipur |website=National Portrait Gallery |access-date=28 October 2023}}{{Cite journal |last=Francis |first=Martin |date=January 2006 |title=Cecil Beaton's Romantic Toryism and the Symbolic Economy of Wartime Britain |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-british-studies/article/abs/cecil-beatons-romantic-toryism-and-the-symbolic-economy-of-wartime-britain/10398D6621D65EFDFB5C40DAC9BA354F |journal=Journal of British Studies |language=en |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=90–117 |doi=10.1086/497057 |s2cid=146595646 |issn=1545-6986|url-access=subscription }} Gayatri was described by Beaton as one of the ten most beautiful women in the world.{{Cite news |last=Sahwney |first=Anubha |date=24 April 2004 |title=I've never felt beautiful: Gayatri Devi |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ive-never-felt-beautiful-gayatri-devi/articleshow/637768.cms |work=The Times of India |access-date=29 October 2023 |issn=0971-8257}}{{Cite web |title=Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/Cx7KU9nNzO-/?img_index=1 |website=Instagram |access-date=29 October 2023}} In a 2004 interview, Gayatri mentioned "I have never felt beautiful...I remember as a young girl, my mother had to literally force me into applying lipstick, physical appearance doesn't bother me, it never has, it never will". In 1962 Jacqueline Kennedy visited Gayatri Devi in India and were photographed together at a Polo match and on her tour of India.{{Cite magazine |last=Zubrzycki |first=John |date=29 July 2021 |title=Jaipur's Last Stand |url=https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/jaipurs-last-stand |magazine=History Today |access-date=29 October 2023}}{{Cite magazine |last=Thottam |first=Jyoti |date=17 August 2009 |title=Gayatri Devi |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1914977,00.html |magazine=Time |access-date=29 October 2023 |issn=0040-781X}} In 2019 an exhibition 'Maharani: ‘Remembering the Princess'" was held in Mumbai to celebrate the Maharani's Centennial year.{{Cite magazine |last=Kanwar |first=Dharmendar |date=1 October 2019 |title=Remembering the legacy of Maharani Gayatri Devi on her 100th birthday |url=https://www.vogue.in/culture-and-living/content/maharani-gayatri-devi-mumbai-exhibition-saris |magazine=Vogue India |access-date=30 October 2023}} In 2013 designer Sabyasachi made five limited edition saris presented at the Taj Mahal Palace in honour of Devi's enduring style icon status.{{Cite magazine |last=Chande |first=Jerusha Ratnam |date=15 January 2013 |title=Sabyasachi's Maharani saris |url=https://www.vogue.in/content/sabyasachi-maharani-saris |magazine=Vogue India |access-date=30 October 2023}}

She started two schools in Jaipur, Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School established in 1943{{cite news |title=Rajmata Gayatri Devi |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/5934077/Rajmata-Gayatri-Devi.html |publisher=The Telegraph |date=29 July 2009 |location=London}} and Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya, Jaipur which is a co-educational school in memory of her husband.{{Cite web|title=Philosophy|url=http://www.msmsvidyalaya.in/philosophy|access-date=30 June 2021|website=www.msmsvidyalaya.in}} She revived and promoted the dying art of blue pottery.{{Cite web |last=Roopa |first=Nupur |date=7 April 2018 |title=Jaipur's blue mystic battles loss of lustre |url=https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/rUQoY44EuDxc8Gyku46eeL/Jaipurs-blue-mystic-battles-loss-of-lustre.html |access-date=28 October 2023 |website=mint |language=en}}

Gayatri Devi ran for Parliament in 1962 and won from Jaipur Lok Sabha constituency, winning 192,909 votes out of 246,516 cast.[https://web.archive.org/web/20081215141039/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,837092,00.html The Battle Royal - Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur...] Time, 28 July 1967. She continued to hold this seat in 1967 and 1971 as a member of the Swatantra Party founded by C. Rajagopalachari, running against the Indian National Congress.

In 1965, during a meeting with Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gayatri was again asked to join Congress. Despite the fact that her husband was being made ambassador to Spain, she stuck to her principles and decided not to join the party. In 1967 the Swatantra party joined hands with Jan Sangh that was led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The alliance won a large number of seats in the 1967 election. In the assembly election Gayatri lost to Damodar Lal Vyas, in Malpura constituency, but won the Lok Sabha election.

The privy purses were abolished in 1971, terminating all royal privileges and titles. Gayatri was arrested under the COFEPOSA Act during the Emergency in July 1975 on the accusation of violating tax laws, and served 5 and a half months in Tihar Jail.{{cite book|title=The Last Maharani of Gwalior: An Autobiography By Manohar Malgonkar|date=1987|pages=233, 242–244|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbNaTBhe5nUC&q=Gayatri+Devi&pg=PA233|isbn=9780887066597|last1=Malgonkar|first1=Manohar|publisher=SUNY Press }}{{cite magazine |last1=Sethi |first1=Sunil |date=30 April 1977 |title=I would like to help the Janata party as far as possible: Rajmata Gayatri Devi |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/interview/story/19770430-i-would-like-to-help-the-janata-party-as-far-as-possible-rajmata-gayatri-devi-823674-2014-08-07 |magazine=India Today |access-date=10 March 2024}} She retired from politics and published her biography, A Princess Remembers,{{Cite web|title=A PRINCESS REMEMBERS {{!}} Rupa Publications|url=https://rupapublications.co.in/books/a-princess-remembers/|access-date=22 September 2021|language=en-US}} written by Santha Rama Rau, in 1976.{{Cite news|date=30 July 2009|first=Rashmee Roshan| last=Lall|title=Gayatri Devi: A maharani and a beauty|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gayatri-Devi-A-maharani-and-a-beauty/articleshow/4834040.cms|access-date=19 January 2021|work=The Times of India|language=en}} It was also published in Marathi language as A Princess Remembers: Gayatri Devi.{{Cite web|title=A Princess Remembers: Gayatri Devi - Marathi Book Buy Online|url=https://www.menakabooks.com/products/a-princess-remembers-gayatri-devi-1|access-date=22 September 2021|website=Menakabooks|language=en}} She was also the focus of the film Memoirs of a Hindu Princess, directed by Françoise Levie.

There were rumours that she might re-enter politics as late as 1999, when the Cooch Behar Trinamool Congress nominated her as their candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, but she did not respond to the offer.Gayatri Devi may contest polls from Cooch Behar, The Statesman, 12 June 1999.

Gayatri Devi had one son, Prince Jagat Singh, Raja of Isarda (15 October 1949 – 5 February 1997), who was granted his paternal uncle's (father's elder brother) fief of Isarda as a subsidiary title. Jagat Singh was married on 10 May 1978 to Mom Rajawongse Priyanandana Rangsit (b. 1952), daughter of Prince Piyarangsit Rangsit and Princess Vibhavadi Rangsit (née Rajani) of Thailand. The couple had two children:

• Rajkumari Lalitya Kumari (b. 1979)
• Maharaj Devraj Singh, Raja of Isarda (b. 1981)

Today, they are her only surviving descendants, and as such, have claimed to be heirs of their paternal grandmother.

Maharaj Jagat Singh was paternal half-brother to Bhawani Singh of Jaipur, the eldest son of the late Maharaja by his first wife, a Jodhpur princess.{{Cite news|date=19 April 2011|last=Bhandari|first=Prakash|title=Bhawani Singh had seen many ups and downs in life|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Bhawani-Singh-had-seen-many-ups-and-downs-in-life/articleshow/8021872.cms|access-date=19 January 2021|work=The Times of India|language=en}}

File:Cecil Beaton Photographs- Political and Military Personalities IB698.jpg in 1940.]]

Gayatri Devi was related to several erstwhile royal families in India. She was herself not from the Rajput community, but from a dynasty native to Cooch Behar in Bengal, and was daughter of Maharaja Jitendra Narayan and Maharani Indira Raje, who was daughter of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III and Maharani Chimnabai, belonging to the Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas.

Her paternal grandparents were Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur and Sunity Devi of Cooch Behar. Maharani Sunity Devi was the daughter of the Brahmo social reformer Keshab Chandra Sen.

She had two brothers, Jagaddipendra Narayan and Indrajitendra Narayan of whom Jagaddipendra Narayan became the Maharaja of Cooch Behar in his infancy after the death of their father in 1922.

Thus, maternally, she was closely connected to Gaekwads of Baroda State. Further, her sister Ila Devi was married into the Tripura royal family, and her younger sister, Maneka Devi, was married into the royal family of Dewas State. Thus, through various relatives, she was related to the royal houses of Kota, Sawantwadi, Akkalkot State, Jath State, Dewas Jr., Jasdan State, Sandur, Tehri-Garhwal, Mayurbhanj, Dhar State, Kolhapur, Lunawada State, Baria and Raja of Payagpur, which was considered normal among the royalties of India.

She was admitted at Santokba Durlabhji Memorial hospital (SDMH) on 17 July 2009. She died at the age of 90 on 29 July 2009, reportedly due to lung failure.{{cite news |title=Gayatri Devi, former Jaipur queen, is dead |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2009/jul/29/gayatri-devi-former-jaipur-queen-is-dead-72346.html |access-date=26 June 2023 |work=The New Indian Express |date=29 July 2009}}

Her family has approached the Delhi High Court to regain 800 kg of gold which was taken away by the government in 1975 describing possession of the gold by Gayatri Devi to be illegal as per the Gold Control Act, 1968. In 2012, the central government counsel S.K. Dubey told the court the possession of raw gold by Gayatri Devi was illegal. Dubey added, "The family has violated both the rules, so a fine of Rs.1.5 crore was imposed on them by the government. It was later reduced to Rs.80 lakh."{{cite news |title=Gayatri Devi's heirs fight govt for 800 kg gold |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2010/Jan/31/gayatri-devis-heirs-fight-govt-for-800-kg-gold-165906.html |work=The New Indian Express |date=31 January 2010 |access-date=15 June 2024}}

• Stephane Bern. Gayatra Devi, une princesse au pays des Maharajas. Documentary by Roland Portiche and Vanessa Pontet. 1h45'. 2013. First broadcast on 26 December 2013, FR2 (French TV).

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

{{commons category}}{{Rajasthanis}}

• {{cite book|title=A Princess Remembers: The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur|first= Gayatri |last= Devi | publisher =J.B. Lippincott |date= 1977|isbn=81-7167-307-4}}
• {{cite book| title =Rajmata Gayatri Devi| first = Dharmendar |last=Kanwar| publisher = Roli Books |isbn=9-788-174-36294-0|year=2005|location=|pages=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qzkqAAAACAAJ|orig-year=2004|author-link=Dharmendar Kanwar}}
• {{cite book| title =Gourmet's Gateway: A Royal Collection|first= Gayatri |last=Devi | publisher = Dharmendar Kanwar |date=1999 |isbn= 81-901221-0-X}}
• {{cite book|title=Maharanis | author-link=Lucy Moore (historian)|first=Lucy |last=Moore | publisher = Penguin Books |date= 2005 | isbn= 978-0-14-303704-0|location=|pages=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1D5YesAa9YC}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kanwar|first=Dharmendar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRxuAAAAMAAJ&q=books+on+gayatri+devi|title=Rajmata Gayatri Devi--: Enduring Grace|date=2004|publisher=Lustre Press, Roli Books|isbn=978-81-7436-295-7|location=|pages=|language=en|author-link=Dharmendar Kanwar}}
• {{Cite book|last=Stern|first=Robert W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NK1MhWq-9VkC&q=books+on+gayatri+devi|title=The Cat and the Lion: Jaipur State in the British Raj|date=1988|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-08283-0|language=en}}

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• {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20060214031642/http://mgdgirlsschool.com/|Website of the MGD Girls School}}
• {{URL|https://web.archive.org/web/20090801103853/http://www.headlinesindia.com/diaspora/diaspora/gayatri-devi-former-jaipur-queen-is-dead-18240.html|The Maharani's Death}}
• {{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/royalty-obituaries/5934077/Rajmata-Gayatri-Devi.html|title=Rajmata Gayatri Devi - Daily Telegraph obituary}}
• {{Cite news|url=http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/aug/01/remembering-gayatri-devi.htm|title=Rediff article - Memoir by her ghost-writer}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Gayatri}}

Category:1919 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:Queen mothers

Category:People from Jaipur

Category:Women in Rajasthan politics

Category:India MPs 1962–1967

Category:India MPs 1967–1970

Category:India MPs 1971–1977

Category:Indian queens consort

Category:History of Jaipur

Category:Visva-Bharati University alumni

Category:People educated at Glendower Preparatory School

Category:Bengali Hindus

Category:People from West Bengal

Category:Swatantra Party politicians

Category:Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan

Category:Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India)

Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges

Category:People from Cooch Behar district

Category:20th-century Indian women politicians

Category:Indian princesses

Category:Politicians from Jaipur

Category:Rajasthani people

Category:Indian Hindus

Category:Women members of the Lok Sabha

Category:Indian polo players