She was a daughter of Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya and sister of Maharaja Bir Bikram . Her mother was from the royal family of Nepal Maharani Jeevan Kumari Devi. Kamal Prava since her childhood was a non conformist, she had her own way of doing things. The people within the royal house which was called Andar perhaps coming from Hindi word for inside were aghast with her activities.
In one of her memoirs she recalled how she stole her fathers paints , he was also a reputed artist. there was complete chaos within the palace as the king’s paints were missing . it was only later he found out that the culprit was his daughter and gave her a box of paints. She remembered this incident and wrote: “ I was always intrigued by the play of colours, I always wanted to play with colours while my sisters were playing with dolls”. Later she did not only play with colours on canvas to become a reputed artist. The eminent author Bikach Chaudhuri mentioned, “ Her paintings were reviewed in the international magazine- Newsweek “. But her life too was colourful .
It is mentioned in her memoirs that as a child her Bengali tutor asked her to memorise a rhyme , “ pora shuna korey jey
Gari ghora chorey shey”. meaning ,”Those who study and learn ride on horses and cars.” She refused to memorise it. The tutor felt helpless and went to complain to her uncle Narendra Kishore about her refusal. She was summoned and when asked she replied, “ Why should I study? I already have cars and horses.”It was her uncle who explained to her that books were like the unending sky. The more one looks at it one gets answers to the questions hidden in one’s mind. He told the tutor to change the rhyme “ She has knows much more ; so teach her “Dhanya Dhanney pushpey Bhora , aamader aye Vasundhara “ ( our world is blessed with bountifulness) .
She later immersed herself in books and became a voracious reader an author and also a poet. On her poems she wrote , “Tagore the great poet wrote on all subjects that’s why he is a world poet( Viswa Kavi) my poems are just a cry of a bird that has lost her nest.” These are some lines written by her:
“No! I do not wish to wear ,
That garland from paradise,
To live with those tearless eyes ,
And loveless souls,
On whom those eternal garlands,
Refusing to perish or wither away,
Sway meaninglessly.”
Kamal Prava later started a small bamboo workshop or what maybe termed as the first R&D centre for bamboo handicrafts in her house, which now is the Women College, in Agartala. She started designing and executing designs of various things made of bamboo. When I asked her what made her do this she told me, “Bamboo grows in abundance in our forests. The indigenous people of Tripura have been using it since time-immemorial, to build their houses, to make their baskets, weapons, for cooking etc. I just wanted to explore further on how bamboo products could be used not only by our people but worldwide. So what nature has given our state could be utilised for making lives better and to make a living.” With a few artisans she worked hard and she became the pioneer of bamboo handicrafts of Tripura which today is matter of pride for the state.
Once in a interview given to Doordarshan , where the anchor the eminent artist Late Dr Sumangal Sen asked her ,” Why didn’t you take the President’s Gold Medal” She replied ,“ I didn’t want it, I loved what I did so I gave the name of my head artisan Banamali. It will be of some use to him for his future and career” That was Kamal Prava who infused her ‘ originality ‘ in whatever she did – may it be in her style of music, her writings ,her paintings or her way of life. It was all stamped ‘original’ so at times it became quite difficult for us to keep pace with her. She was proclaimed as the “Mother of Tripura Handicrafts“ -for she gave birth to a new way of utilising bamboo as handicraft goods ; earlier it was used for domestic purposes only. She would tell us it was an effort of value addition to our culture.
We used to pass by the milk dairy which was located where now the posh hotel Polo Tower stands ( talking of 55yrs back) I was just a young boy of 11or 12 years, she would point out to the heap of broken milk glass bottles that would shimmer in the sunlight. One morning she sent her staff to bring home those broken bottles and from then onwards she sat in her studio making table lamps, ashtrays and other useful things from these and told us how waste too can be converted into useful items. In those days the concept of re cycling was non existent and here this adventurous princess was doing it. She was indeed much ahead of her times.
Talking to us of her times within the palace, she once remarked that maybe our kings were not as rich as the others but this land is blessed with so much culture and such a glorious history that very few can claim. She was indeed very proud of the fact that Tripura remained an Independent state throughout its history of a thousand years even during British Rule in India.
In her book ‘Khelaghar ( Play House) she wrote candidly reflecting the pride in her motherland. In a letter she quoted, which she wrote to her elder brother the Maharaja: Respected Dada Maharaj,
I can become anything I want to,
You need to look after your state, your respect and glory, for you
are the ruler. But I was born into a free independent state. So I was free from the day I was born. Please don’t bother about me. All I want from you is justice, I want the same pension as that given to Maharanis for I am a daughter of this soil and born into this family . You wil not have to spend a penny for my marriage. Our sisters have all been married outside the state. I wish to live with honour in the state where our father and ancestors ruled with glory“. She also commented in the same book, “I felt very sorry to hear later on that Dada felt very sad after he read my letter. He gave me the pension that I wanted .She goes on to add, “ But his sadness is nothing in comparison to the sorrows our own people had to face; with his demise and other socio- political changes that was thrust upon our innocent people.” That was typical Kamal Prava – courageous and bold never to shy away from anything.
Her marriage was arranged with one of the richest Maharaja Jiwajirao Gaekwad of Gawalior, there were numerous hurdles in those days, a lot of anonymous letters floated around a part of palace politics. One such letter written to Jiwajirao claimed that the photograph sent to him was that of a pretty girl and not that of a Tripura princess there was suspicion in Gwalior so the Maharaja asked. Birbikram to kindly send all his sisters to Grand Hotel in Calcutta for a tea party. Birbikram was fuming with anger that all his sisters would have to be sent there but he had to yield due to the upcoming marriage that was arranged. Jiwajirao recognised his fiancé and his suspicion was laid to rest. Later on they came to know each other and went out for lunches, movies and dinners. Their engagement took place with all lavishness, which was reported in the Illustrated Weekly magazine with the Tripura princess gorgeously dressed wearing the expensive diamond engagement ring. However as destiny decided finally; the wedding never took place due to various reasons. This incident finds a mention in the autobiography of Late Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia quite frankly.
She was an adventurous soul and went off to do playback singing for a Bollywood movie, an impossible feat those days for a princess to be associated with films. She sang but the Maharaja bought the movie rights and it never saw the light of the day. In her memoirs she recalls how she sang for Rishi Aurobindo in Pondicherry on request. She sang a Rabindra sangeet “Marana Re Tuhu mamo Shayam Saman” (Death you are equal to my beloved Shyam) . The eminent artist Late Hrishikesh dev Barman , who was there with her later recounted to me , how tears rolled down the eyes of the great man as he said, “I have not heard this song being sung in this way – it’s different.” It must have been so; Kamal Prava was always original for she never wanted to copy, she always infused her touch in anything she did.
She also told us about the parties in then Bombay, the glittering night life of then Calcutta, the horse races, the theatre there. About their annual trip to the hill station Mussoorie where most of the princely families gathered during the summer, for their lavish picnics and get togethers, yet despite being a part of this fantasy world , she she never forgot the the place she was born in and it’s people because she always longed to be with them.
Back in Agartala she established the Sanrakhan Club ( conservation club) for ladies; this must have been the first exclusive ladies club sixty years ago in Tripura. Here they met and learned new methods of using waste products to make useful things of daily use. She even set up a stall to popularise these products, I am not sure if the concept of Self Help Groups existed at that time.
She always told us jokingly that “I belong to Mithun Rasi ( Gemini astrological sign) the twins ; I have two characters.” Today I realise that indeed she had it. She was steeped into art, culture, music, handicrafts, theatre but on the other hand we found her to be a businesswoman,who set up a hotel called Olympic Hotel next to the Palace, it was the best at that time and many Mukti Yudhhas and Leaders stayed there during the Bangladesh War of 1971. She also had a cinema Hall called Rupchaya in partnership; today where the overseas market in Agartala stands. What’s more she also ran trucks for transport business. A woman entrepreneur at that time, was rare and too a princess brought up inside a palace.
She knew very well times had changed and challenges had to be faced because the pension given to her by Bikram Bikram, was suddenly stopped after his demise due to family politics and she had to fight 18 years in court to get it back. She would always say that don’t take things for granted; life is full of surprises.
There is an anecdote that often came up. When Prime Minister Nehru visited the state, she met him regarding the pension that had suddenly stopped and was affecting a lot of families adversely but before she could finish the PM said, “ Yes, I know everything “ Kamal Prava shot back, “ That statement of yours is untrue. How is it you know our sufferings and pain of several years in just two of minutes?.” The PM was taken aback , he called out to my father and said, “ Ramen, your wife tells me that I am lying” my father was embarrassed but Nehru turned to my mother and said, “ Kamal see me in Delhi will certainly hear you there and do something on this”. Then he said “ Young lady! Don’t be angry have a chocolate.” Offering her a plate of assorted chocolates, she took one and pointed out to his coat which was darned ( mended) and she commented, “ Thanks, but even that is not true.” Implying that the darned coat was just a show of simple life. The prime minister laughed it away. This anecdote was first told to us by our father, who had to go undergo a lot of embarrassment and didn’t not know how to stop her. She was simply unstoppable!!
I had once accompanied her to
meet late Nripen Chakraborty; the veteran communist leader, this was her first visit to the secretariat and Chief Minister’s Office around 1980s . On seeing her the chief minister remarked “ Kumari I am the CM of the rickshaw pullers and daily labours.”She got up from her chair and asked him ,“ Then there is probably another CM for me!! Where is his chamber?” The CM knew her well, he laughed and said “You are still the same princess – fiery as ever. Suggest a name for a newspaper that we are about to publish” She replied, “Will think about it” and carried on with their conversation. This was Kamal Prava never intimidated whatever the occasion may be.
She learned to draw house plans and make architectural drawings from her brother in law Late Benoy Singha Roy, who was the senior engineer at Martin and Burns; the firm that built the Ujjayanta Palace, in Agartala . Later she planned and built twelve houses in Agartala supervising the masons and labourers with an umbrella held over her head. She would leave the house at 10 am and come back around 5:30pm , spending the whole day at the site with the construction workers- a princess with a difference who liked to work and be grounded.
Her foray into politics was also much like her personality. She became the president of the Adibashi Congress in 1960s and tried to involve the educated youth into the party. She was dismayed when the Congress leadership preferred ‘rubber stamp’ tribal leaders sidelining the educated youth like Shyama charan Tripura, Nagendra Jamatia, Bajubon Reang ( who later joined CPI (M)) and others . She called a meeting in her premises at Kishorelal Mandir and told her followers that their role in the Congress had become useless, it was time to make their own regional party. She left the Congress.The rest is history. She summed up her life as “ Many thought that I was reckless, wayward and a non conformist for I broke many rules of my times. Frankly, speaking, all I did was, to be myself and refused to wear masks or hide behind the purdah system ( women of the palace were not allowed to roam around freely they were always behind some covering)”
I remember accompanying her to a tour of Europe. My sister and I were youngsters, eager to go to nightclubs and shopping but she wanted to visit museums and once inside she would take out her notebook and pen to jot down points and her observations meticulously that would make both of us impatient. Today I realise how observant she was. Having not being educated formally, she had the best tutors to come and teach her and also a British governess to teach her some refinements but she somehow got rid of her. When asked later about education she replied,” I went to the university of the universe where I discovered so many colours and shades of infinity. My schooling was done by life that had so many ups and downs from the palace to the construction sites. From luxury of a princess to the struggle for survival. And my report card says that I went through all this and survived. Many appreciated my works but only a few loved me for what I was.”
This is therefore a story of princess, who tread many paths yet all led to the same destination – the betterment of her people culturally, educationally and of course politically. Whenever I regretted that I stayed back in Tripura when all my brothers and sisters went out, she would sometimes say, “ You are lucky not all get the opportunity to serve your motherland.”
She passed away living for 104 colourful years perhaps the longest in the family and left behind so many stories.
