Nripendra Narayan, Maharaja of Cooch Behar

This is a portrait of Maharaja of Cooch Behar (present-day West Bengal), Nripendra Narayan (1862-1911).

Bounded in the north by Bhutan, Cooch Behar was once a part of the ancient Indian kingdom of Kamarupa. Two centuries later, the East India Company would recognise the location as strategic to their imperial ambitions in Bengal and ally with the then Maharaja Dharendra Narayan. When Nripendra Narayan arrived on the scene, Cooch Behar was a princely state in British India. Maharaja Nripendra Narayan succeeded his father to the kingship in 1863, when he was just 11 months old. He is fondly remembered for ushering in an era of modernity in Cooch Behar.