Looking around in Google Maps, I located the 'Bhawal Rajbari' - now converted into a DC (District Commissioner's) office. The place seems to be preserved by the local standards.
The legend talks of the Bhawal Sanyasi. The 'mejokumar' Ramendra Narayan Roy, the second son of the Rajendra Narayan Roy Choudhury is said to have returned from the dead as a 'Sanyasi' to Dhaka in 1920. What ensued was called the Bhawal case, protracted over 16 years in court, ultimately the public and the court recognizing him as the King of Bhawal. The final judgement came from the Privy Council in London in 1946. The claimant went to offer prayers after the judgement, suffered a stroke and died two days later. Two famous films document this story, one from 1975 [Sanyasi Raja] and the more recent Ek Je Chhilo Raja of 2018 which we saw last month, thanks to Amazon Prime.And here I was in the vicinity of the Zamindar Bari researching the surroundings and reading the story all over again.
References :
- A Princely Impostor?: The Strange and Universal History of the Kumar of Bhawal - Partha Chatterjee
- রূপকথাকে হার মানানো ভাওয়াল রাজার বাস্তব কাহিনী।
- The-legendary-tale-the-bhawal-sannyasi
- 1971 revolution started from Gazipur Bhawal Estate
- A-prince-who-rose-from-the-dead
- Bhawal Case at Banglapedia
- Ek Je Chhilo Raja | Official Trailer : Film has wrong name of protagonist