Maharaja Bodhachandra Singh

Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh or Bodhachandra Singh (1909–1955) was the last ruler of the Kingdom of Manipur. He ruled between 1941 and the 15 October 1949. He married seven or nine women, his first wife being HH Srimati Maharani Tharendra Kishori (Rajkumari Ram Priya Devi), who died in 1942; she was daughter of the Raja of Bodo Khimedi.

During his lifetime the Princely State of Manipur was extinguished and absorbed by the Government of India. He was succeeded by Maharaja Okendrajit Singh, but there were no further princes after the state was extinguished and the privileges of the native princes abolished.

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His first marriage was a failure. As a young Jubraj, he was married to Rampyari Devi (Tharendra Kishori), the third daughter of the Raja of Borokhemji in Ganjam district of Orissa on July 5 1929. She was divorced in 1941 without an issue, and died on March 20 1942 in Benares [Cheitharol Kumbaba, Manipuri Shahitya Parishad, Rep2015 p680].

MK Binodini, the greatest and handsomest modern royal of the postwar Manipur, eulogises Rampyari in her book, Churachand maharajgee imung. She probably had difficulty in adjusting to the Manipuri way of life. She remained introverted and had temper tantrums, often resorting to hunger strike.

Bodhchandra was married again to a Nepali princess, Ishwari Devi, eldest daughter of Prince Ramraja of Ramnagar of the then United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). They were married in Benares (Varanasi) on June 18 1941. She was installed as the first Queen of Manipur at the palace Durbar Hall on April 18 1942. She performed the funeral rites of her husband. She contacted the then Chief Commissioner of Manipur for permission to cremate Bodhchandra Maharaja at Kangla [Indian Government Reserve]. Later, she went to retire in Navadeep, where she died [date of death unknown]. She had no issue.

I remember how Yellangbam Ibecha became the 6th Rani Kherdani. One day I went to her house, when I found Bodhchandra Maharaja posited himself as the suitor at her Mangol (veranda) that was temporarily screened up. I also knew the 7th Thangmeiband Rani (Rani Khidir).

Rani Sangai or Kamalavati gave birth to Okendrajit, who was 5 years old when he was declared the king of Manipur after the death of Bodhchandra in 1955. The rest is current history.

Bodhchandra has forever been ostracised by some, for his part in signing away Manipur to merge with India. It is a matter of opinion and I think it unfair. To begin with, the Manipur Congress Party was campaigning for it. Little did people know that the Governor Sri Prakasa 'made an offer that Bodhchandra couldn't refuse'!

Either he signed it or else, someone else would sign it as king of Manipur. There was no mention of where he would be going, while he in his Redlands residence, was ring-fenced by a battalion of the Jat Regiment of the Indian Army.