Few days ago , I received the sad news that Rajmata of Bavda , Shashikaladevi Pant Amatya passed away at ripe age of 92. My association with the Rajmata was fairly recent , but she was an old family friend. It was only about a year ago that i discovered to my shock that the old lady "maisaheb" who played bridge with my grandfather at the club every evening was infact the rajmata of bavda. I soon went to meet her. The rajmata was very sweet and was surrounded by dogs. She lived in a large bungalow in grounds of her school. One of the best things about interviewing her was that she was frank and blunt. Shashikala devi was born in famous Sardar Raste family of pune. She was granddaughter of maharaja of kurundwad. She had modern upbringing in pune. She was second wife first being princess of jamkhandi. Sadly rajmata was widowed at young age of 29. She then adopted current pant amatya from a poorer branch of the family. When i asked her "how did her husband die" she stated "he was hopeless alcoholic". Also when i asked her "what did you do whole day as a rani?" she replied "absolutely nothing" . This was my insight into lives of royalty. the rajmata was also known as "Gayatridevi of kolhapur" because of her modern lifestyle. She was a great tennis player and horse rider. There was strict purdah in kolhapur state. She was first noble lady to come out of purdah leading to great uproar.She was first female member of the exclusive "Residency club" . She also started that school "Mai bavdekar school" . This is one of the most prestigeous institutions in kolhapur. I jokingly remarked to her "Why don't you write your memoirs like rajmata gayatri devi. She has written such an excellent book.Have you read it?" Rajmata just smiled and showed me the book she was just reading. By strange coincidence the book was none other than "Princess Remembers by gayarti devi".We had a good laugh over this. Sadly with passing away of rajmata a chapter in kolhapur's history has come to close. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

At 11:44  04/02/05 -0800, you wrote: > >    Few days ago , I received the sad news that >Rajmata of Bavda , Shashikaladevi Pant Amatya passed >away at ripe age of 92. My association with the >Rajmata was fairly recent , but she was an old family >friend. It was only about a year ago that i discovered >to my shock that the old lady "maisaheb" who played >bridge with my grandfather at the club every evening >was infact the rajmata of bavda. >         I soon went to meet her. The rajmata was very >sweet and was surrounded by dogs. She lived in a large >bungalow in grounds of her school. One of the best >things about interviewing her was that she was frank >and blunt. >     Shashikala devi was born in famous Sardar Raste >family of pune. She was granddaughter of maharaja of >kurundwad. She had modern upbringing in pune. She was >second wife first being princess of jamkhandi. Sadly >rajmata was widowed at young age of 29. She then >adopted current pant amatya from a poorer branch of >the family. >      When i asked her "how did her husband die" she >stated "he was hopeless alcoholic". Also when i asked >her "what did you do whole day as a rani?" she replied >"absolutely nothing" . This was my insight into lives >of royalty. >    the rajmata was also known as "Gayatridevi of >kolhapur" because of her modern lifestyle. She was a >great tennis player and horse rider. There was strict >purdah in kolhapur state. She was first noble lady to >come out of purdah leading to great uproar.She was >first female member of the exclusive "Residency club" >. She also started that school "Mai bavdekar school" . >This is one of the most prestigeous institutions in >kolhapur. >I jokingly remarked to her "Why don't you write your >memoirs like rajmata gayatri devi. She has written >such an excellent book.Have you read it?" Rajmata just >smiled and showed me the book she was just reading. By >strange coincidence the book was none other than >"Princess Remembers by gayarti devi".We had a good >laugh over this. >        Sadly with passing away of rajmata a chapter >in kolhapur's history has come to close. > Thank you for sharing this with us, it is indeed sad, since its another link with the past gone. There aren't too many left that remember what is was like before independence. The only others in their 90's still alive that I know of are the Maharaja of Alwar and the Maharana of Wankaner. Any others? Cheers, Henry