3 Review(s)

The youngest daughter of Maharaja Churachand Singh and Maharani Dhanamanjuri Devi of Manipur, Binodini spent her childhood in the luxury of a royal family in India's British Raj period. Part memoir, part oral testimony, part eyewitness account, Binodini's The Maharaja's Household provides a unique and engrossingly intimate view of life in the erstwhile royal household of Manipur in northeast India. She brings to life stories of kingdoms long vanished and offers an important addition to the untold histories of the British Raj. Already celebrated in Manipur for her award-winning novel, short stories and film scripts, Binodini enchants readers anew with her stories of royal life, told from a woman's point of view. Readers here encounter elephant hunts, polo matches, and Hindu temple performances, all forming the backdrop for palace intrigues, colonial rule and White Rajahs. With gentle humour, piquant observations, and heartfelt nostalgia, Binodini evokes a lifestyle and an era that is now lost. Her book paints a portrait of the household of a king that only a princess-his daughter-could have written.