PRESENT ESTATE HOLDER:

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)

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• 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.

Court of Wards in 1901

• Raja Ranendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bhawal 1901/1910, born 1882, married Ranu Sarjubala. He died 1910.

Court of Wards in 1904/1910

Court of Wards 1910/1951

• Raja Ram Narayan Roy Chowdhury, Zamindar of Bhawal 1946/1951