How was our lovely Bengal a hundred years ago? Its social structure, feudal systems, the British Raj and the nationalist movement.... all together, if one peeps through a window of time, he will observe a colourful portrait. The storyline that follows is an attempt of the same. Not credited to me, however, as the Bhawal Case is a very popular and widely published legal encounter of British Bengal, and it is claimed that there would be hardly any last generation Bengali who had not heard of the Bhawal Case.
Zamindari Estates were widely spread across Bengal in the British Raj, most of which had their ancestral roots in the Moghul Era. The Moghuls distributed rights of revenue collection to certain families, which later got established as the Zamindars, and the British continued almost the same system with some modifications like the Permanent Settlement of 1793. An estate called Bhawal was spread in today's Dhaka district of Bangla Desh, and was ranked very high among the Zamindari estates of Bengal, only second to the Nawab of Dhaka. The Zamindar of Bhawal was called "Raja" by the tenants and residents of the estate. The headquarter of the Bhawal estate was situated at Jaidebpur, north to Dhaka, today known as Gazipur.
Our story dates back to April-May 1909. After the demise of Raja Rajendra Narayan Roy Choudhari in 1901, the Court of Wards had acquired the estate. But Rajendra's wife, Bilasmani fought in the court and acquired back the rights of revenue collection from the Court of Wards in the name of her three young sons. Raja Ramedra, the Second Kumar of Bhawal was the second son of Rajendra and Bilasmani. Ramedra was a typical character as the sons of Zamindars used to be, and spent most of his time in hunting and wandering with a group of flatterer-turned friends, rather that concentrating on education and affairs of the estate. He had acquired syphilis as a result of his lifestyle at an early age. In April 1909, Ramedra's health deteriorated, and the family decided to send him to Darjeeling for rest. Ramendra was accompanied by his wife Bibhawati, Bibhawati's brother Satyenrda Banerjee and a crew of servents.
However, the climate of Darjeeling could work no wonders for the Second Kumar, and on May 6, he was declared dead. A death certificate to that effect was issued by the British civil surgeon in Darjeeling. The party, including Bibhawati, her brother Satyendra and others returned to Jaidebpur after three days and post-death religious rites were performed. However, for quite some time, people heard and talked in private about the stories that the Second Kumar was not dead, and there was some mystery about the cremation of his body.
Days and years passed and the year 1921 dawned on Dhaka. A sanyasi appeared in Dhaka in the January of 1921, and soon rumours started spreading that the sanyasi was the Second Kumar of Bhawal, Ramendra, who was declared dead years back. After some months, the sanyasi visited Jaidebpur and met the sister of Ramendra, Jyotirmoyi and others in town. Upon cross questioning in a number of meetings and further insistence of Jyotirmoyi, the sanyasi agreed that he was Ramendra, and declared in a public meeting in May 1921, that he was the Second Kumar of Bhawal, who was said to be died at Darjeeling in 1909.
The news spread like fire, and the tenants of Bhawal Estate started flooding to Jaidebpur to see the glimpse of the sanyasi. The illiterate masses quickly believed that their Mayo Kumar had returned back from the kingdom of death. This obviously posed a challenge to the British administration of the Estate in particular and to the Bengal Government in general. Another few months passed and there was not a single person in Bengal who had not taken a side on the issue that whether the sanyasi appeared in Dhaka was really the Second Kumar of Bhawal or not. And then began one of the longest legal battle in the history of British Raj in India, the Bhawal Case.
So, what had happened in Darjeeling? According to one version, when Ramendra was declared dead, his body was taken for funeral by his servants. Meanwhile, a storm gathered and the servants took shelter of a nearby tree, leaving the body waiting for funeral. When the storm was over, the servants returned back to cremate the body and found to surprise of everyone that the body was missing. Taken aback, they set to fire the woods at the funeral place and declared that the body was cremated upon returning to the residence in Darjeeling. What happened to the dead body of the Kumar then? It was said that while the storm was going on, a group of Naga sadhus was passig nearby, who noticed that a man's body was lying on the funeral ground, but the person was not dead. The sadhus carried the body(Ramendra) with them and possibly brought Ramendra back to his senses, after an effort of three-four days. The sanyasi that appeared at Dhaka, later claimed as Ramendra, that he did not remember anything of his body being taken to cremation, after he lost his senses in the house at Darjeeling. Only thing he remembered, the sanyasi claimed, was that he had found himself among a group of Naga sadhus, when he had returned to his senses after a few days.
The sanyasi later offered a number of evidences to prove that he was the Second Kumar, Ramendra, but almost all of these evidences were controvertial. The sanyasi fought and won the cases in the court of law in India as well as in the Privy Council of London. Surprisingly, however, the wife of Ramendra, Bibhawati, did never in her lifetime believe that her husband had come back.
Interesting, isn't it? A book entitled "A Princely Imposter?" published by Permanent Black, gives a lucid account of the Bhawal Case and the Secret History of Indian Nationalism, which is in fact the sub-title of the book. It is impossible to give all the details of this intersting chapter in the history of Bengal here, the book in itself is an excellent rendering and a must-read for every curious person.
