by Sumit Gangopadhyay

Jagaddipendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaj of Cooch Behar, was born on Dec 15, 1915. Keshub Chandra Sen, a major figure of the Brahmo revolution, was his maternal grandfather.

It was mainly due to the marriage of the future Maharaj’s mother that chasms started to appear in the Brahmo Samaj. His cousin sister was Queen Mother of Chakma, Binita Roy, whose son Tridev Roy chose Pakistani nationality instead of Bangladesh in 1971. Another cousin sister of the Maharaja was famous actress of the past, Sadhana Basu.

The Maharaj played 15 first-class matches, 10 of them for Bengal. Under his captaincy that Bengal played in the final of Ranji Trophy. A middle-order batsman and a medium-pacer, he was an useful all-rounder.

(Translated from Bengali by Arunabha Sengupta)