It happened that at the time of the wedding, Jitendra's elder brother,
Rajendra Narayan, the Maharaja of
Cooch Behar, was grievously ill. Within days of the wedding, he died of ailments arising from alcohol abuse, and Jitendra became maharaja of Cooch Behar. The couple lived a relatively happy life and rapidly became the parents of five children. However,
alcoholism was endemic in Jitendra's family, and he died at a young age, within a decade of the wedding. Indira was now not only a young widow and the mother of five, but also regent of Cooch Behar during the minority of her elder son. with the princely dalliances ultimately the likely source of the cryptic message
George V sent via the
India Office, in effect asking her to leave Europe and return to
Cooch Behar.
Children Indira was the mother of three daughters and two sons. • Indira's eldest daughter, Ila, married a prince of
Tripura, Ramendra Kishore Dev Varma. Her younger son Bharat Dev Varma took for wife the actress
Moon Moon Sen; they are the parents of Indian actors
Raima and
Riya. • Her elder son,
Jagaddipendra Narayan, succeeded his father as Maharaja of Cooch Behar, and was the last ruling prince of his dynasty; Cooch Behar was merged with the
Dominion of India (later the
Republic of India) during his reign. He had no legitimate children, and was succeeded by his nephew Virajendra. • The second son, Indrajitendra, married a daughter of the Maharaja of
Pithapuram estate in present-day
Andhra Pradesh. They were the parents of Virajendra and also of Uttara Devi, Maharani of
Kotah in
Rajasthan. • Indira's second daughter,
Gayatri, became the third wife of the Maharaja of
Jaipur, and was a noted celebrity in her own right. • Indira's youngest daughter Menaka married the Maharaja of
Dewas Jr in
central India. ==Later life==