Maharaj Kumar Rani Sita Devi of Kapurthala (30 September 1915 − 2002), also known as Princess Karam and the Pearl of India, was the wife of Karamjit Singh, a younger son of Maharaja Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of the princely state of

Kapurthala Kapurthala is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent buil ...

Punjab, British India Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British ...

. In 1944, she was awarded the

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

for her work in raising funds for Indian soldiers in the Second World War. She was widely regarded as one of the most glamorous women of her day.Made for Maharajas: a design diary of princely India / by Amin Jaffer; pages 113, 116-117. New York: Vendome Press, 2006.

Early life and education

Sita Devi was born in 1915 to the Hindu

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

Raja Uday Raj Singh of Kashipur,

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

. At age 13, she married Karamjit Singh, a younger son of the Sikh Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of the princely state of

. Her sister-in-law was

Brinda Devi Brinda Devi, Crown Princess of Kapurthala (died 25 July 1962), was an Indian royal and a socialite, the wife of Crown Prince Paramjit Singh of Kapurthala (eldest son of Jagatjit Singh, Maharaja Jagatjit Singh I of Kapurthala State, Kapurthala in P ...

, making

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 ...

her niece. As a devote Hindu, she kept her Nepalese cooks with her in order to produce vegetarian food and special Hindu meals for

fasts Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

. At her wish, her husband arranged for her to have lessons in Sanskrit, German, Italian, mathematics, history and Hindu rituals. She subsequently became fluent in five languages.

Life in Europe

Her first trip to Europe was in 1934. In London, an "onlooker" in the ''Daily Mail'' wrote that "Princess Karam is pale. In her own country she is considered the most beautiful of the Princesses; they call her the "Rose of India"." That year

Cathleen Mann Cathleen Sabine Mann Royal Society of Portrait Painters, RP Royal Institute of Oil Painters, ROI (31 December 1896 – 9 September 1959), styled the Marchioness of Queensberry from 1926 to 1946, was a British portrait painter and costume design ...

's sketch of her was displayed at the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

show at the Suffolk Street Galleries. Subsequently, in Paris, the media widely reported on her looks. In 1938 her portrait featured in

Oliver Messel Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel (13 January 1904 – 13 July 1978) was an English artist and one of the foremost stage designers of the 20th century. Early life Messel was born in London, the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Leonard Messel a ...

's exhibition. She was a muse for several photographers, including

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton, (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the t ...

and

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to eac ...

. ''Vogue'' named her "one of the most beautiful women in the world". At the turn of the 20th century, Indian princesses were increasingly wearing western garments, whether openly or under

purdah Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...

. Sita Devi's preferred couturier was

Mainbocher Mainbocher is a fashion label founded by the American couturier Main Rousseau Bocher (October 24, 1890 – December 27, 1976), also known as Mainbocher (pronounced "Maine-Bow-Shay"). Established in 1929, the house of Mainbocher successfully ope ...

, who designed chiffon saris and fur coats for her, and designed the wedding dress for

Wallis Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...

's nuptials with the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his abdication on 11 December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, ...

. Jaffer, Amin (10 December 2006
"Made for maharajas"
''The Tribune''. Excerpt from ''Made for Maharajas: A Design Diary of Princely India'' The couturier Elsa Schiaparelli was so dazzled by Sita Devi that the gowns of the designer’s 1935 collection were constructed like Indian saris. In early 1939, at Lady Mendl's tea in honor of the Hollywood dietitian,

Gayelord Hauser Benjamin Gayelord Hauser (May 17, 1895 - December 26, 1984),Picart, C. (2000, February)''Hauser, Gayelord (1895-1984), nutritionist and author'' American National Biography. Ed. Retrieved 8 Feb. 2019. popularly known as Gayelord Hauser, was an Ame ...

, Sita Devi was listed among the twelve most glamorous women in the world. At the end of the summer in 1939, Devi was a guest of honour at a party hosted by Elsie de Wolfe.

Death and legacy

Sita Devi died in 2002. Her grandson is the jewellery designer Hanut Singh.

Honours

n Silver(1 January 1944) for her work in raising funds for Indian soldiers in the Second World War.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sita Devi Of Kapurthala 1915 births 2002 deaths Indian princesses Indian socialites History of Punjab, India People from Kapurthala 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal