Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
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Briefly
February 26, 2023: The Times of India
While her cousin and namesake, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, was India’s first health minister, mystery still shrouds the other princess, Amrit Kaur, who is believed to have sold her jewels in war-torn Paris to save Jewish lives only to be arrested and sent to a concentration camp where she died within a year. But there’s much more to her narrative, says Livia Manera Sambuy, the Italian author of ‘In Search of Amrit Kaur’. In an interview, she tells Sharmila Ganesan Ram about the enduring relevance of the dead Punjabi princess
■ What was it about the portrait of princess Amrit Kaur you spotted in a Mumbai museum that led you to invest so many years in finding out more about her life?
It was a stunning black and white portrait taken in London in 1924 when the Rani of Mandi was 20. She wasn’t just incredibly beautiful in her translucent saree embroidered in silver and gold. Her luminous beauty also bore a shade of melancholy that set her apart from the proud royals — mostly males — that surrounded her in the exhibition. The label alongside said she lived in Paris in the 1930s and was believed to have sold her precious jewellery to help Jewish friends leave France during the Nazi occupation. When I learned that she was arrested in 1940 and died in a concentration camp, I felt a powerful desire to find out more about her story.
■ Amrit Kaur of Kapurthala, who became India’s first health minister, was her cousin. What was their equation like?
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur of Kapurthala was 20 years older. She was Indira Gandhi’s closest supporter, and, as you said, India’s first health minister. Both princesses descended from Randhir Singh of Kapurthala (1831-1870), but a dispute over succession had set their families apart.
■ Like her cousin, the Rani of Mandi, too, was on the frontlines in the battle for women’s rights in India. How would you describe her contribution to the women’s movement between 1926 and 1931?
I believe her contribution was meaningful, She had presided over some women’s conferences in India at the end on the 1920s, and had fought against polygamy and for women’s right to education. In 1928, she led a women’s delegation to confront Viceroy Lord Irving demanding the immediate abolition of child marriage. And in 1931 she presided over the first All Asia Women’s Conference in Lahore. “Let us discard the customs and traditions which have been strangling our domestic lives, and be an inspiring and noble influence in our households, in our countries and in the world at large”. These were impressive words.
■ Given that details on the Rani’s life were scant, what challenges did you face?
The obstacles were so many that I often felt as if her memory had been intentionally deleted. I believe she was perceived as too modern, too independent and maybe even too highly educated for her age and rank. In France, I was very disappointed by the national archives, where I felt thatsometimes evidence of the country’s collaboration with the Nazis had been conveniently erased. Even her arrest in 1940 Paris was missing from their records — not to mention her tragic detention in a French internment camp run by the Nazis. Luckily, at the British Library I found a thick dossier on her that covered the war years.
■ You met Amrit Kaur’s octogenarian daughter, princess Nirvana of Bilkha aka Bubbles, in Pune. Did your meetings with her alter the nature of your probe?
Oh, yes, completely. At the time, I had no idea that her mother had left India in 1933 when Bubbles was four, never to come back. Her daughter’s longing to know why she was abandoned became a powerful motivation for my quest. I later revealed to her my findings which included a letter that testified her mother’s intention to come back to India.
■ Jewish banker, Parisian jewellers, cannibalistic maharajas, spiritual gurus, Nazis. Of all the characters you encountered, which ones were the most interesting?
So many! I fell in love with the generosity and broad-mindedness of French banker Albert Kahn, who was a good friend of Amrit Kaur’s father, the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. For 25 years in the early 1900s, Kahn sent photographers and filmmakers to map the costumes and culture of foreign countries — including India — because he believed that “knowing the other” would be a deterrent to conflicts. I also admired the beauty and elegance of Amrit’s sister-in-law Sita Devi of Kapurthala, aka Princess Karam, and the courage of the dashing Jean Rosenthal, the hero of the French Resistance.
■ Did the princess really sell her jewels in occupied Paris to save Jewish lives?
I have reasons to believe that it is true at least for one, very precious piece of jewellery — bought by Jean Rosenthal in 1940.
■ How is her story relevant today?
I believe her courage and independence could be an inspiration to many Indian women. Her words — “Our people can never advance unless our women do so” — should be written in gold letters in the constitution.
