Maharani Kanchan Prava Devi was a Queen of Tripura as the wife of

Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarma Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma Bahadur (19 August 1908 – 17 May 1947) was a king (or M''aharaja'') of Tripura State. He was succeeded by his son, Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore Deb Barman, who was the nominal king for two year ...

, King of Tripura State. After her husband's death in 1947, she was regent of Tripura until it was merged with India in 1949.

Life

She was the daughter of

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

Yadvendra Singh. She married

, King of Tripura State, who became king in 1923. In 1947, her spouse died. She took control over the princely state as regent over the Council of Regency that managed the Government under the minority of prince Kirit Bikram Manikya Bahadur Debbarma. Her Dewan was A.B. Chatterjee. She played a pivotal role in rehabilitating refugees and victims of the violence associated with the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

in the state of Tripura. In 1948, she was forced by the Indian Government to abolish the Council of Regency and take sole control as regent. She ruled Tripura overseeing the merger and incorporation into independent

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. She was obliged by Indian pressure to sign the merger agreement on 9th September 1949.Komol Singha, M. Amarjeet Singh,
Identity, Contestation and Development in Northeast India
' She stepped down as regent when the state was merged with India in 1949. She founded the

MBB College Maharaja Bir Bikram College or MBB College is a degree college of the Indian state of Tripura, imparting general education in the streams of Science, Commerce and Humanities. Established in 1947, it is the oldest college in the state of Tripura ...

Agartala Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debbarman, Kanchan Prava Devi Regents of India 20th-century women rulers Founders of Indian schools and colleges People from Agartala Indian women philanthropists Indian philanthropists 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Women in Tripura politics