Early Life
Bharat Dev Varma was born the younger son of Maharaja Ramendra Kishore Dev Varma (Prince of Tripura) (d. Calcutta 1975) and his first wife Ila Devi (Princess of Cooch Behar) (1914–1945), the eldest daughter of HH Maharaja Jitendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, Maharaja of Cooch Behar and his wife Indira Raje, Princess of Baroda. The father Ramendra Kishore Dev Varma was himself a grandson of a ruler of Tripura and thus nephew and cousin (and later brother-in-law) to successive rulers.
He had one older brother Manabendra Kishore Dev Varma, better known as Bhim Dev Varma (now deceased) (1937–2002) who was childless, and one sister Devika Devi (1938–2009), who was previously married in 1961 (divorced 19_) to her aunt Gayatri Devi's stepson Prithviraj Singh, Prince of Jaipur), with issue. His mother Ila Devi died at a relatively young age in 1945 at Darjeeling, aged only 30 or 31. His father remarried some time later, this time choosing as wife his first cousin Kamal Prabha, Princess of Tripura. Bharat Dev Varma has one half-brother Jishnu Kishore Dev Varma (married, with one son) and three half-sisters by his father's second marriage.
His nickname is apparently Prince Habi. It is unclear if this was a childhood nickname, since it has rarely been used in the Indian press, whereas his older brother was always known as Bhim Dev Varma until his death (and later).
Bharat was probably raised by his father and stepmother in Calcutta. His father died in 1975. Details of his education and career are currently unknown.
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