Indra, Crown Princess of Nepal

Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah (25 July 1923 – 4 September 1951) was the consort and Crown Princess of Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah, then Crown Prince of Nepal. She was the mother of Kings Birendra Bir Bikram Shah and Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah, Prince Dhirendra Bir Bikram Shah, and Princesses Shanti Rajya Laxmi Devi, Sharada Rajya Laxmi Devi and Shobha Rajya Laxmi Devi.^[3][4]

Life

She is the first wife Mahendra of Nepal (1921–1972). Crown Princess Indra belongs to the aristocratic Rana family and was the daughter of late Honorary General Hari Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and his wife, Megha Kumari Rajya Laxmi.^[5]

She married Crown Prince Mahendra on 8 May 1940 but died on 4 September 1951 at the age of just 28. She succumbed to a post-partum haemorrhage, a complication following the birth of her sixth child,^[6] Dhirendra.^[7] The death of the Crown Princess led to the building of the kingdom's first maternity hospital, the Prasuti Griha, and her beautiful head-and-shoulders statue stands in the entrance of the hospital that was built in the grounds of Charburja Durbar and was opened in 1959.

Two years after Indra's death, her younger sister Ratna married Crown Prince Mahendra.^[8] There were no children by this marriage as the new queen was sterilised to avoid succession problems;^[9] Mahendra already had three sons and three daughters by Indra.

Titles and styles

• 1924 – 1940: Lady Indra Rajya Laxmi Devi.
• 1940 – 1951: Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Nepal.

References