Maharani of Cooch Behar Sunity Devee

Born into the influential Sen family, she was the daughter of Brahmo Samaj reformer Keshub Chandra Sen and later became Maharani of Cooch Behar through her marriage to Maharaja Nripendra Narayan. Sources consistently describe her as an educator, social worker, and author as well as a prominent figure in one of British India’s best-known princely states.

She is especially remembered as the author of The Autobiography of an Indian Princess, first published in 1921. That memoir has helped keep her voice alive for modern readers, offering a firsthand account of court life, family, travel, and the cultural tensions of her era.

Beyond her writing, she is often noted for supporting women’s education and social reform. Her life joined royalty, public service, and literature in a way that still makes her stand out among early Indian women writers in English.