Bhawal Rajbari (ভাওয়াল রাজবাড়ি)

Bhawal Rajbari is the 19th-century palace of the Bhawal Estate in Joydebpur, Gazipur, north of Dhaka, Bangladesh, now the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Gazipur. Famous for the Bhawal Sannyasi case, it suits visitors interested in zamindar history who are happy to see it mainly from the grounds.

A zamindari of 2,274 villages

The estate was one of the largest zamindaris in Bengal, covering more than 1,500 square kilometres, about 2,274 villages and some 55,000 people. The palace was its main seat and largest building.

From Daulat Ghazi to the Roy family

Daulat Ghazi held the Bhawal zamindari in the late 17th century. In 1704 the Mughal governor Murshid Quli Khan installed Sri Krishna, son of the Ghazi family's diwan Bala Ram, as zamindar. His descendants later bought the zamindari of the indigo planter J. Wise for Rs 4,46,000 and came to own the whole Bhawal pargana. The British made Kalinarayan Roy Chowdhury a Raja in 1878, and his son Rajendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury, who died in 1901, enlarged the estate further. The East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950 abolished the zamindari.

European and Mughal styles in about 365 rooms

Built between 1870 and 1880, the palace mixes European and Mughal features, with long colonnaded verandas and large halls. It is reported to have about 365 rooms, though some counts give closer to 350. A temple and a cremation ground lie to the south and a lake to the west.

What was the Bhawal Sannyasi case?

Ramendra Narayan Roy, second son of Raja Rajendra Narayan, was reported dead in Darjeeling in 1909. About a decade later a holy man appeared claiming to be him, and a long court battle upheld his claim. The story inspired the films Sannyasi Raja, starring Uttam Kumar, and Ek Je Chhilo Raja, directed by Srijit Mukherji.