Bhawal Estate

Bhawal Estate (Bengali: ভাওয়াল) was a large zamindari estate in Bengal in modern-day Bangladesh. Bhawal Estate spread over 579 square miles (1,500 km²) and covered 2,274 villages with the combined population around 500,000, many of them tenant farmers. It gained particular notoriety during the famous Bhawal case.

The area under the estate currently falls under the Gazipur District and the Upazilas of Bangladesh Kaliganj of Dhaka Division. The most famous capitol of the Bhawal Estate was Choira Meah Bari, where zamindar Fazal Gazi lived. He was one of the Baro-Bhuyans (twelve zamindars of Bengal).

Before the Mughal conquest, Bhawal Estate belonged to Gazis of Bhawal. The first known Gazi was Fazal Gazi, who lent a cannon to Sher Shah Suri with 'Az Fazal Gazi' (from Fazal Gazi) inscribed on it. Bahadur Gazi was in control during Akbar's invasion. Gazis accepted Mughal suzarinity during Subahdar Islam Khan's final conquest and rule of Bangla. Gazipur District was named after the Gazis of Bhawal.

The Rajas of Bhawal came from the village of Bajrayogini under Munshiganj. Bala Ram, the ancestor of the Rajas of Bhawal, was Dewan to Daulat Gazi at the time of Murshid Kuli Khan's reign in the late seventeenth century. As a policy to collect proper and due revenue, Murshid Kuli Khan replaced many Muslim zamindaris with Hindu ones. Dewan Bala Ram took the opportunity and convinced Murshid Kuli to install his son, Sri Krishna, as the zamindar of Bhawal in 1704 instead of Daulat Gazi. His family ruled Bhawal until the abolition of the zamindari system in 1951 at Choira Meah Bari, which was the capital of Bhawal.

During the post-permanent settlement period, the zamindari was expanded manifold 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. According to revenue records, the Wise Estate was bought for Rs 446,000, an enviable sum for the time.

In 1878, Kalinarayan Roy Chowdhury got the hereditary 'raja' title from the British raj. His son, Raja Rajendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury, further extended the zamindari; the Bhawal raj had landed estates in Dhaka, Mymensingh, Faridpur and Bakerganj, and thus became the second largest zamindari in Eastern Bengal. 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 were in Dhaka. According to the survey and settlement records of 1917, the Bhawal family possessed 459,163 acres of land spread over 2,274 mouzas. The estate paid Rs 83,052 in government revenue and earned Rs 462,096 in rental income in 1904, after all deductions. Unlike most other zamindars who preferred to live in cities as absentee proprietors, the Bhawal raja resided at Jaidevpur in the heart of his estate.

Raja Rajendranaryan Roy Chowdhury was the last great zamindar of the Bhawal estate. His diwan was Kaliprosanna Ghosh, a noted writer of the late nineteenth century. Rajendranarayan had three sons - Ranendra Narayan, Ramendra Narayan and Rabindra Narayan. He died in 1901 when his children were still minors and consequently the estate was brought under the Court of Wards, once in 1901 and again in 1904. All the children of the raja, as attested by a European house tutor, were utterly inattentive to education and moral training. All of them were growing sensuously and in ignorance. The second son, Ramendra Narayan, went to Darjeeling in 1909 for treatment. He was announced to be dead and cremated there. The other two sons also died soon after, and the family appeared to be extinct. Actually, though, the second son had disappeared and lived on as a sanyasi. Toward the end of 1920, he made a dramatic and sensational comeback after twelve years to claim his right.

Thus began the famous Bhawal case (1935) that made news and gossip for a decade all over Bengal and beyond, becoming the subject of literature, theatre and cinema in many languages of India. Ever since the Bhawal Case, the zamindari succession became an extremely complex affair and consequently the management of the zamindari continued to remain under the Court of Wards until 1950 when the zamindari system was abolished.

External links

Bhawal Estate in banglapedia