PREDECESSORS AND SHORT HISTORY:
Bhawal Estate, formerly in Sadr North Division of Dacca
District (of Imperial India), was the second largest
zamindari in Eastern Bengal, after the Dhaka Nawab estate
in extent and income. The ancestors of the Bhawal raj
family are said to have been inhabitants of Bajrayogini
under Munshiganj. One Bala Ram of this family served as
diwan to Daulat Ghazi, zamindar of Bhawal pargana in the
late seventeenth century. Bala Ram and his son Sri Krishna
managed to please the diwan Murshid Quli Khan and were
able to wrest the zamindari of the pargana from the
Ghazis. The Ghazi estate of Bhawal was one of those
zamindaris that lost their rights due to Murshid Quli
Khan's revenue collection policy. Sri Krishna was
installed as the zamindar of Bhawal in 1704. Since then
his family had been in uninterrupted control of the
pargana down to the abolition of zamindari system in 1951.
During the post-permanent settlement period, the zamindari
was expanded many fold through new acquisitions by
purchases. In 1851, the Bhawal family bought the zamindari
of J. Wise, an indigo planter. Through this purchase the
family became the owner of the entire Bhawal pargana. The
assets and liabilities, which could not be distributed
after the abolition of the zamindari due to knotty
succession questions and unresolved title suits, remained
under the care of the Court of Wards during Pakistan
period. Now the affairs of the Bhawal Estate are looked
after by the Board of Land Reforms, Government of
Bangladesh. Curiously, the city of Dhaka itself and its
environs were mostly owned by the Raja of Bhawal, though
the Dhaka nawab family possessed extensive zamindari
estates spread out in many districts and their
headquarters was in Dhaka. Estate holders were....
- FAZL GHAZI,
1st Zamindar of Bhawal (of Ghazi family) 1562/1588
- BAHADUR
GHAZI I, 2nd Zamindar of Bhawal (of
Ghazi family) 1588/-
- BAHADUR
GHAZI II, Zamindar of Bhawal (of Ghazi
family)
- DAULAT GHAZI,
Zamindar of Bhawal (of Ghazi family) -/1704 (deposed)
- Kumar Srikrishna
Roy Chowdhury, 1st Zamindar of Bhawal 1704/-,
son of Balaram, and grandson of Kushadhwaj, married
and had issue.
- Kumar (name
unknown) Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Kumar (name
unknown) Roy
Chowdhury, 2nd Zamindar of Bhawal, married
and had issue.
- Kumar Lok Narayan Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Kumar Lok Narayan
Roy Chowdhury, 3rd Zamindar of Bhawal -/1794,
married Kumari Sissheswari, died 1845, and had issue.
He died 1794.
- Kumar Golok Narayan Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Kumar Golok Narayan
Roy Chowdhury, 4th Zamindar of Bhawal
1794/1845, he renounced all titles after the death of
his mother in 1845; married and had issue, one son. He
died after 1845.
- Raja Kali Narayan Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Raja Kali Narayan
Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bhawal 1845/1879,
born about 1818, he was granted the title of Raja and
Roy in 1878 as a personal distinction; married 1stly,
Kumari Jaimani, married 2ndly, Kumari Brahmamayi,
married 3rdly, Kumari Satyabhama, and had issue (by
third wife), one son and one daughter. He died 1879.
- Raja Bahadur Rajendra Naryan Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Kumari Kripamanyi, married Bilas Mukherjee.
- Raja Bahadur
Rajendra Naryan Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of
Bhawal 1879/1901; born 1862, he further extended the
zamindari, which had property in Dhaka, Mymensingh,
Faridpur and Bakerganj, and thus became the second
largest zamindari in Eastern Bengal (after the Dhaka
Nawab Estate); he was granted the title of Raja
Bahadur; married Rani Bilasmani, died 1907, and had
issue, three sons and three daughters. He died 1901.
- Kumari Indumanyi, married Gobinda Mukherjee, and
had issue, four children.
- Surama Kumari (Keni), married Birendra.
- Kshitinda Kumari (Jabbu)
- Jitendra Mukherjee (Billu)
- Dwitindra Kumari (Tebu)
- Kumari Jyotirmayi, married Jagadish Mukherjee, and
had issue, three cdaughters.
- Pramodbala Kumari, married Satinath
Banerjee (Sagar Babu)
- Jalad Kumari (Buddhu)
- Bibhubala Kumari (Heni) married Chandra
Sekhar Banarjee.
- Raja Ranendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury (qv)
- Kumar Ramendra Narayan, born 28th July 1884, he
and his wife went to Darjeeling in April 1909 and he
became a sanyasi, he was reported dead, with his
wife and others returning home to Bhawal to mourn,
but he returned to Bhawal in 1921, was recognized
and eventually, tried to claim his inheritance,
giving rise to the famous Bhawal Case (1935), that
made news and gossip all over Bengal and beyond for
a decade and became the subject of literature,
theatre and cinema in many languages of India; the
District Court finally declared him to be who he
claimed to be and heir to the estate on 22nd
December 1937; his claim was upheld at a meeting of
the Privy Council (in London) on 6th May 1946;
married Kumarani Vivabati Devi [Bibhabati Banerjee]
(sister of Satyendranath Banerjee). He died of a
stroke on 8th May 1946.
- Kumar Rabindra Narayan, born 1887, married
Kumarani Ananda Kumari, she adopted Kumar Ram
Narayan to succeed after 1946, and had adoptive
issue. He died 1913.
- (A) Kumar Ram
Narayan (qv)
- Kumari Tarinmayi, married Brajalal Banarjee.
- Raja Ranendra
Narayan Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bhawal
1901/1910, born 1882, married Ranu Sarjubala. He died
1910.
Court
of Wards in 1904/1910
- Raja Ram Narayan
Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bhawal 1946/1951
The help of John Duncan McMeekin, is gratefully
acknowledged, January 2013.
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