Maharani Chimnabai II (1872 – 23 August 1958) was a queen and the second wife Maharaja

Sayajirao Gaekwad Sayajirao Gaekwad III (born Shrimant Gopalrao Gaekwad; 11 March 1863 – 6 February 1939) was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, and is remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Ga ...

of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

, Gujarat,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. She is the author of the treatise '' The position of Women in Indian Life'' (1911), and was the first president of the All India Women's Conference (AIWC) in 1927-1928, as well as the president of the National Council of Women in India in 1928-1937.

Biography

Shrimant Gajarabai became Chimnabai II upon marrying

in 1885. A progressive woman, she worked toward education for girls, abolishing the purdah system and child marriage, and became the first president of the AIWC in 1927. She is the author of the treatise ''The position of Women in Indian Life'' (1911). Her daughter

Indira Devi Indira Devi, born as Indira Raje (19 February 1892 – 6 September 1968), was the Maharani of the princely state of Cooch Behar, British India. She was the daughter of Chimnabai II. She broke her arranged engagement to marry Jitendra Narayan ...

became the consort of

Jitendra Narayan Maharaja Shri Sir Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur (20 December 1886 – 20 December 1922) was the Maharaja of Cooch Behar State, Cooch-Behar, India, from September 1913 until his death in December 1922. Early life Jitendra Narayan was the sec ...

, Maharajah of

Cooch Behar Cooch Behar (), or Koch Bihar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Cooch Behar district. It is in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas at . Cooch Behar is the only planned city in the ...

Biography

Works

References

Further reading