People come out of the Cooch BeharPalace after paying their respects to Gayatri Devi and (below) garlands being placed in front of her portrait. Pictures by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, July 30: The entire district shut down today as a mark of respect to Gayatri Devi, the last surviving member of the Cooch Behar royal family, who passed away in Jaipur yesterday.

Last night, district magistrate Smaraki Mahapatra had declared that all government offices and educational institutions would remain closed today to mourn the passing away of the princess who got married to the Maharaja of Jaipur and left Cooch Behar in 1940.

The district magistrate, who is the chairman of the trust board that looks after the royal religious property in Cooch Behar and elsewhere in the country, arranged for a portrait to be put up on the balcony of the palace here so that people could pay homage.

“There is a tremendous sentiment attached to the memory of the royal family of Cooch Behar. Today people will be able to enter the palace free of cost and pay their respects. We are also preparing a message of condolence that will be sent on behalf of the trust to Jaipur,” the district magistrate said.

A memorial service was held at the Madanmohan Temple, the main place of worship of the erstwhile royals.

The shutdown across the district was total as shops and establishments had also downed shutters. “Last night we took the decision to observe a day of mourning and keep our shops and markets closed as a mark of respect to the departed daughter of the district,” said Rajendra Kumar Baid, the secretary of the district traders’ association.

Gayatri Devi

Traffic was also thin. All important street corners whether here or in towns like Tufanganj or Dinhata had garlanded pictures of the Rajmata.

Even political parties decided to observe the mourning. “We had an agitation planned at the district collectorate on behalf of the farmers, but we cancelled the programme in honour of Gayatri Devi,” said Udayan Guha, the district secretary of the Forward Bloc.

District Trinamul Congress president Rabindranath Ghosh said a candle-light procession would be brought out in the evening.

Among those who had showed up at the palace to pay their respects and lay flowers or light incense sticks before the portrait were Krishna Das, a nurse with the district hospital, and her six-year-old son. “I had to come and show my child her photograph and tell him that we just lost a real princess,” Krishna said.

“The last of the royals have left us. This was a family that was known throughout the world for their patronage to education, technology and good governance. We will miss Gayatri Devi, who stood by us even though she was far away in Rajasthan. This was a truly popular royalty and concerned about the welfare of their subjects,” said Fazlur Rehman, a teacher of Putimari High School.