Narasingha Malla Deb

Raja
Narasingha Malla Deb
Born (1907-01-22)22 January 1907
Died 11 November 1976(1976-11-11) (aged 69)
Nationality Indian
Home town Jhargram, West Bengal
Religion Hindu
Spouse(s) Binode Manjari Devi
Rupa Manjari Devi
Children Birendra Bijoy Malla Deb
Savitri Devi
Gayatri Devi
Jayshree Devi
Parent(s) Raja Chandi Charan Malla Deb,
Rani Kumud Kumari Devi

Narasingha Malla Deb (22 January 1907 – 11 November 1976) was a member of the Parliament of India and the 16th ruler of Jhargram, which he led from 1916 until his royal powers were abolished by an amendment to the Constitution of India in 1954.[1]

Early years and accession

Narasingha Malla Deb's ancestors traveled from Rajasthan with Man Singh to conquer the Bengal region on behalf of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. They defeated the local Malla tribal rulers and took the name Malla Deb. The family belonged to the Chauhan clan of Rajputs.

Narasingha was the only son of Chandi Charan Malla Deb, the raja of Jhargram, and his wife, Kumud Kumari, the princess of Dhalbhumgarh. His father died when he was a child, and Narasingha assumed his titles and responsibilities after nine years of control by the Court of Wards. He was enthroned shortly afterward.[2]

He and his sister, Vishnupriya, were raised by their mother. The governor of Bengal appointed Professor Debendra Mohan Bhattacharya of Dacca to groom Narasingha as a ruler. As a child, he was sent to Midnapore Collegiate School and then to Presidency College in Kolkata, where he obtained a degree in history.

With his full name and title, Narasingha was known as Raja Sir Narasingha Malla Ugal Sanda Deb, Raja Bahadur of Jhargram.

Work as Raja

From 1922–1950, with Professor Battacharya as administrator, Jhargram developed into a township, and many educational institutions were established. The Kumud Kumari Institution was founded in 1924. In 1925, an annual sports fund was created to encourage athletic activities and to construct a football stadium and the Jhargram Club. Malla Deb established Jhargram Agricultural College, which was later renamed Jhargram Raj College, as well as Vidyasagar Polytechnic for industrial training. He provided funds to set up Sri Ramkrishna Saradapeeth Girls High School and Bharat Sevashram Sangha. In 1931, he commissioned a new palace on 23 acres of land; it is a prominent example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. During World War II, he constructed Dudhkundi Airfield for the United States Air Force and provided the Allied forces with elephants, vehicles, and other help.

The Jhargram Palace

With the consent of the governor of Bengal, Malla Deb established a hospital for lower-class residents of Jhargram in his late father's name: Chandi Charan Charitable Hospital. Later, similar hospitals were established in every tehsil to serve nearby villages. The raja donated land to the Roman Catholic Church of India and to the Muslim community to build Nurrani Jama Masjid, a mosque, in Jhargram. In 1947, more land was acquired, and the Rani Binode Manjuri Government Girls' School—now one of the premier schools in Midnapore—was built.

In Midnapore, he founded the Tuberculosis Chest Clinic and the Homeopathic College, and gave donations for the construction of the Vidyasagar Memorial and the purchase of books for a library. He also bore all of the expenses to build the Midnapore Club and Jhargram Stadium. (It was renamed Aurobinda Stadium after his death.) Between 1928 and 1950, he contributed hundreds of thousands of rupees to welfare causes. In 1947, he gave 10,000 bighas of land to poor farmers, making him the single largest land donor in West Bengal. His beneficiaries ranged from the Kolkata Bangiya Sahitya Parishad to New Delhi Kali Bari.

Derecognition

In the 1950s, the Constitution of India was amended, the West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act was passed, and the estate of Jhargram was merged with West Bengal. In 1971, the government of India abolished all official symbols of princely India, including titles, privileges, and remuneration (privy purses).[3]

After losing his royal title, Malla Deb served for two terms as a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal. He also served in the Lok Sabha,[4] the lower house of the Indian Parliament.

Personal life

In 1930, Malla Deb married Binode Manjari Devi, daughter of the Lal Saheb Girish Chandra Bhanja Deo of Mayurbhanj, a major feudal state in Odisha. They had two children: a son, Yuvraj Birendra Bijoy Malla Deb, born in 1931, and a daughter, Rajkumari Savitri Devi, born in 1943. After his first wife died in 1944, he married Rupa Manjari Devi, with whom he had two daughters: Rajkumari Gayatri Devi and Rajkumari Jayshree Devi.[5]

He was an angler and hunter, for which he won trophies that are still kept in the Jhargram Palace. He was also a photographer and won international prizes from the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and the Soviet Union. He had a deep knowledge of Vaishnav Sangeet music and organized regular concerts at the palace.

Malla Deb died on 11 November 1976 in Kolkata.

Legacy

Malla Deb was known for working to rehabilitate refugees after the partition of India. After India gained its independence, he owned a business in Kolkata and large real estate properties in Kolkata, Midnapore, and Digha. His son Yuvraj Birendra Bijoy got involved in politics and was a two-time member of the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal from Jhargram's Vidhan Sabha constituency, representing the Indian National Congress. His son Shivendra Bijoy Malla Deb—Narasingha Malla Deb's grandson—is a social worker and politician associated with the All India Trinamool Congress, and the chairman of the municipality of Jhargram.

Honours

See also

References

  1. ↑ Soszynski, Henry. "JHARGRAM". members.iinet.net.au. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  2. ↑ Rajput Provinces of India
  3. ↑ 1. Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian princes and their states. Cambridge University Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-521-26727-4. Retrieved 6 November 2011., "Through a constitutional amendment passed in 1971, Indira Gandhi stripped the princes of the titles, privy purses and regal privileges which her father's government had granted." (p 278). 2. Naipaul, V. S. (8 April 2003), India: A Wounded Civilization, Random House Digital, Inc., pp. 37–, ISBN 978-1-4000-3075-0, retrieved 6 November 2011 Quote: "The princes of India – their number and variety reflecting to a large extent the chaos that had come to the country with the break up of the Mughal empire – had lost real power in the British time. Through generations of idle servitude they had grown to specialize only in style. A bogus, extinguishable glamour: in 1947, with Independence, they had lost their state, and Mrs. Gandhi in 1971 had, without much public outcry, abolished their privy purses and titles." (pp 37–38). 3. Schmidt, Karl J. (1995), An atlas and survey of South Asian history, M.E. Sharpe, p. 78, ISBN 978-1-56324-334-9, retrieved 6 November 2011 Quote: "Although the Indian states were alternately requested or forced into union with either India or Pakistan, the real death of princely India came when the Twenty-sixth Amendment Act (1971) abolished the princes' titles, privileges, and privy purses." (page 78). 4. Breckenridge, Carol Appadurai (1995), Consuming modernity: public culture in a South Asian world, U of Minnesota Press, pp. 84–, ISBN 978-0-8166-2306-8, retrieved 6 November 2011 Quote: "The third stage in the political evolution of the princes from rulers to citizens occurred in 1971, when the constitution ceased to recognize them as princes and their privy purses, titles, and special privileges were abolished." (page 84). 5. Guha, Ramachandra (5 August 2008), India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy, HarperCollins, pp. 441–, ISBN 978-0-06-095858-9, retrieved 6 November 2011 Quote: "Her success at the polls emboldened Mrs. Gandhi to act decisively against the princes. Through 1971, the two sides tried and failed to find a settlement. The princes were willing to forgo their privy purses, but hoped at least to save their titles. But with her overwhelming majority in Parliament, the prime minister had no need to compromise. On 2 December she introduced a bill to amend the constitution and abolish all princely privileges. It was passed in the Lok Sabha by 381 votes to six, and in the Rajya Sabha by 167 votes to seven. In her own speech, the prime minister invited 'the princes to join the elite of the modern age, the elite which earns respect by its talent, energy and contribution to human progress, all of which can only be done when we work together as equals without regarding anybody as of special status.' " (page 441).
  4. ↑ "1957 Midnapur loksabha vote". www.indiavotes.com.
  5. ↑ Royal Families of India
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