Why did Queen Tara Devi jump from Qutub Minar?
This was before independence, in the year 1946. It was the month of December. Everyone in Delhi's Maidens Hotel started recognizing that tall and big-eyed woman. This hotel was his base for about a month. Every day she took her dogs for a walk. But on the morning of December 9, she came out of her suite alone. Took a taxi and headed towards Qutub Minar, about 20 km from the city.
After reaching Qutub Minar, the woman left her handbag with the driver and started climbing the stairs. It is not easy for anyone to climb this tower which is as high as a 20-storey building, but the woman reached the top. Even if the driver standing below had raised his head and looked up, he would not have been able to see the expressions on the woman's face. But the next moment he froze with shock. That woman had jumped from Qutub Minar.
Who was she? The items found in the headbang revealed that her name was Rani Tara Devi. Age 33 years. Wife of the aged Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala. The next day, after the post-mortem, Rani Tara Devi was buried in the Nicholson graveyard near Kashmiri Gate and in a way her memory was forgotten.
Her real name was not even Tara Devi. According to the declaration submitted to the British in 1940 on behalf of Kapurthala State, her name was 'Angenie' Marie Grosupova. However, it seems that the typist made a mistake in writing Angenie. It is very possible that his name is Eugene. She was a Czech citizen. Born on 22 January 1914. From the age of four to 20, his guardian was Doctor Leon Pistol in Vienna. He told a Canadian newspaper 'Photo Journal' that Eugene was the daughter of a very rich Hungarian family. She went to India with the Maharaja shortly before the start of the Second World War. Before this, she had become one of the most promising dancers in Vienna's most famous Burgtheater.
In 1935, Eugene played the role of Anitra in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. The press then praised her beauty and dance tremendously. So why did Eugene leave after making a splash on the stage? In April 1947, four months after his suicide, Doctor Pistol reported, 'The Maharaja was also present during one of his performances at the Burgtheater. Immediately after the show, Eugene's mother told me that the Maharaja wanted to take them all with him to India.
On August 23, 1947, a second article was published in the Sydney edition of 'The World's News'. It was also told, 'The crowd praised Eugene on the first night itself. The Maharaja of Kapurthala was also sitting in his box watching the dance. He sent a big bouquet of roses. Pistol explained that he opposed the Maharaja's proposal, because Eugene had a three-year contract with the Burgtheater. However, this had no effect on the Maharaja. He offered to buy the contract for 20 thousand dollars.
Soon afterwards Eugene, his 46-year-old mother Marie Grosupova and a 64-year-old maid named Antonia Koura set out with the Maharaja. He first went to Paris, then to London and finally to India. It is a bit difficult to find out the truth of everything Doctor Pistol says. But the International Herald Tribune published a news on 28 June 1938. This was the news of the party given by the Maharaja. Eugene, his mother and Doctor Pistol were among the guests who attended the luncheon held at the George V Hotel in Paris. This means that there was some truth in the story of Doctor Pistol.
Till the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the family started living in Jagatjit Palace in Kapurthala. However, Eugene and the Maharaja were not married till then. Maharaja was famous in Europe and America. Wherever he went, there was press coverage. Despite this, this marriage did not get any attention from the press, perhaps because at that time there was news of war everywhere. But they got married and Eugene got the Indian name, Tara Devi. The proof of this is also that in the year 1942, the issue of giving British passport to Rani Tara Devi, wife of the Maharaja of Kapurthala was raised.
It was not a happy marriage. Reports after Tara Devi's suicide stated that they had separated in 1945. Tara Devi was living alone. According to Doctor Pistol, Tara intended to go to America in December 1946 and settle there. The World's News article states that he asked Doc Pistol to buy a house near New York City. From the beginning the pistol pointed towards some conspiracy in this suicide. He alleged that Tara Devi had written a letter to him a month before her death. In this she wrote, 'Every day when I go out with my dog, someone follows me and asks me questions. I don't know what he wants.'
Doctor Pistol prosecuted this case for some years. The National Archives has a record from 1948. In this, Dr. Leon Pistol has been interrogated regarding the death of Queen Tara Devi of Kapurthala. In the year 1952, Pistol had also requested the Prime Minister for help and advice in the investigation. But by then the Maharaja had died and the queen was completely forgotten, whom very few people knew even while living in India.