Bhawal Estate was a large

zamindari A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous Indian feudalism, feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian language, Persian was the offi ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

(in modern-day

Gazipur Gazipur () is a city in central Bangladesh. Located in Gazipur District in Dhaka Division, it is a major industrial city north of Dhaka. It is a hub for the textile industry in Bangladesh, with 75% of all garment industries situated there. ...

, Bangladesh) until it was abolished according to ''East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950''.

History

In the late 17th century, Daulat Ghazi was the zamindar of the Ghazi estate of Bhawal. Bala Ram was Diwan of Daulat Ghazi. In 1704, as the consequence of change in the policy of revenue collection, Bala Ram's son Sri Krishna was installed as the zamindar of Bhawal by

Murshid Quli Khan Murshid Quli Khan ( 1660 – 30 June 1727), also known as Mohammad Hadi (born as Suryanarayana Mishra), was the first Nawab of Bengal, serving from 1717 to 1727. According to some writers, he was born a Hindu in the Deccan Plateau 1670, Mur ...

. Since then, through acquisitions the zamindari expanded. The family turned into the proprietor of the whole Bhawal pargana after purchasing the zamindari of J. Wise, an indigo grower for Rs 4,46,000. In 1878,

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

conferred ''Raja'' title to Zamindar Kalinarayan Roy Chowdhury. His son Raja Rajendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury extended the zamindari. Rajendra was married to Rani Bilasmani Devi. They had 3 daughters - Indumayi, Jyotirmayi and Tarinmayi, and 3 sons - Ranendra Narayan, Ramendra Narayan and Rabindra Narayan. Writer

Kaliprosanna Ghosh Rai Bahadur Dewan Kaliprosanna Ghosh, CIE Vidyasagar was a Bengali journalist, writer and scholar. Early life Ghosh was born on 23 July 1843 in the village of Bharakar in Bikrampur, Bengal Presidency, British India to a Bengali Hindu Kayastha f ...

was appointed the ''

Dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the el ...

'' of Bhawal Estate for Rajendra Narayan. Rajendra died in 1901.

Area

The estate comprised over 1,500 square kilometer, which included 2,274 villages and around 55,000 villagers. Its biggest establishment is the Bhawal Rajbari palace. Bhawal Temple and Shoshan Ghaat (cremating area) are situated to the south of the palace.

Popular culture

In the early 20th century, a well-known legal case took place involving

Ramendra Narayan Roy The Bhawal case was an extended Indian court case about a person claiming to be the prince of Bhawal, who was presumed dead a decade earlier. Apparent first death and cremation Ramendra Narayan Roy was a kumar ("prince") of the Bhawal E ...

of the Bhawal zamindar family, which became known as the Bhawal Sannyasi case. The Bengali film '' Sannyasi Raja'', starring actor

Uttam Kumar Uttam Kumar (born Arun Kumar Chattopadhyay; 3 September 1926 – 24 July 1980), widely known as Mahanayak (), was an Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema ...

, was based on this historical event and gained significant popularity. Additionally, filmmaker

Srijit Mukherji Srijit Mukherji (born 23 September 1977) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who predominantly works in Bengali cinema. His regular collaboration with veteran actor Prosenjit Chatterjee brought him into the limelight. His first featur ...

directed ''

Ek Je Chhilo Raja ''Ek Je Chhilo Raja'' is an Indian Bengali drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji, under the banner of SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd, starring Jisshu Sengupta in the title role of Maharaja Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury as well as the Bhawal sanyasi. T ...

'', which depicted the disappearance, return, and subsequent legal proceedings related to the Bhawal Sannyasi case.

References

Bengali zamindars Zamindari estates Bengali Hindus Bangladeshi Hindus Hindu families {{bangladesh-stub