RAJBADIS OF BENGAL

Sovabazar Rajbadi was also a witness to women’s reform. In a part of the estate, Nabakrishna Deb, along with Henry Derozio, Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar gathered to impart education to young girls. Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda also visited the estate. Presently, the street the rajbadi is in has been named after Nabakrishna Deb. His current descendants continue to maintain their traditions during Durga Puja. However, lack of finances has made it difficult to preserve the affluent legacy of the rajbadi.

COSSIMBAZAR RAJBADI:

Murshidabad, the capital of Bengal during the reign of the Nawabs, was an active centre of culture and commerce. Grand structures like rajbadis dotted the city and its surroundings. A few kilometres south of the city, lies the town of Cossimbazar. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was a thriving centre of silk production. Its status began to wane with the rise of colonial power in India. The Sripur Rajbadi, popularly referred to as the Cossimbazar Bodo Rajbadi, located in this town, serves as a memoir of the town’s heyday. Sprawling over a large area of land, the rajbadi was the residence of the Rajas of Cossimbazar. 

Though the first Raja of Cossimbazar was Lokenath Nandy Bahadur, the tale is incomplete without the story of his father- Krishnanath Nandy or Kantubabu. He was a silk merchant and the banian (agent) of Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of India. Kantubabu provided shelter to Hastings during the violence in Plassey in 1757, thus earning his favour. The British conferred upon his family land, money and the title of ‘Raja’. However, Kantubabu himself never used the title of ‘Raja’ in his life. His son, Lokenath Nandy was the first ‘Raja’ in the family.

The foundation of the Cossimbazar Bodo Rajbadi was laid during the late 18th century by Kantubabu. During the 1790s, he established the deity of Laxminarayan, which he received as a gift from Raja Chait Singh of Benaras. The deity was worshipped as the family deity of the Nandys from then on. A separate thakurbadi was constructed for it. The deity became so important to Kantubabu, it is said that in the first draft of his will, he made regular veneration of the deity as one of the main clauses. To further remember his relationship with Raja Chait Singh, large parts of his abandoned palace, including stone pillars and arches, were brought by Kantubabu to the Cossimbazar estate from Benaras. It was installed in a part of the estate called the ‘Chait Singher Dalan’ or Chait Singh’s lobby. 

Kantubabu made further expansions to the house to include a khajanakhana or an office complex which included the treasury, and a verandah or an open courtyard. Over time, a munshikhana (secretariat), mahafeijkhana (record room), sarbarahakarikhana (supplies department) and the Cossimbazar Raj Library were also built in the complex of the estate. For almost the next two centuries, the Cossimbazar Bodo Rajbadi became not just the residence of the Nandy family but the venue of all their important gatherings. The family held durbars, met high-ranking government officials and hosted cultural and religious events in the rajbadi. 

The Nandys established and gave huge grants to schools and colleges. Several of the members of the Cossimbazar Rajbadi were also principals of educational institutions. They helped Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in his fight to legalise widow remarriage. The family published the first Bengali newspaper in Murshidabad. At present, the rajbadi lies in a dilapidated condition.

BURDWAN RAJBADI:

Perhaps one of the most affluent rajbadi across West Bengal was that of the Maharaja of Burdwan (present-day Bardhaman). The centuries-old estate acted as both the office and residence of the royal family of Burdwan. The structure till date dominates the landscape of the city. 

The first official Raja of the Burdwan family was Chitra Sen Rai who received the title of ‘Raja’ from the Mughal Emperor- Muhammad Shah ‘Rangeela’. But, similar to the ancestry of Sovabazar Rajbadi, the Burdwan Rajbadi family did not originally belong to Bengal. Legends trace the family’s history to a merchant, Sangam Rai of Lahore during the 17th century. It is believed that on his way back from his pilgrimage to Puri, Sangam Rai chanced upon Baikunthapur, a village in Burdwan and decided to settle there. Around the year 1689, one of Sangam Rai’s direct descendants, Krishna Ram Rai received a farman (notice) from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, officially declaring Krishna Ram Rai as the ‘Zamindar’ and ‘Chaudhari’ of Burdwan.  

In 1744, Tilak Chandra Rai, Chitra Sen Rai’s cousin succeeded him as the zamindar. The Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II bestowed on Tilak Chandra Rai the titles of “Maharaja Adhiraj Bahadur” and “Panch Hazari” (Commander of five thousand troops). Prior to this itself, the Rai family began acquiring and conquering land, including those of other zamindars. At one point, the Burdwan Raj encompassed present day regions of Bardhaman and parts of Hooghly and Paschim (West) Mednipur. 

After the Battle of Plassey, the zamindari of Burdwan was given to the British East India Company by Mir Kasim, the new Nawab of Bengal, without the consent of the Rai family. This gave birth to a severe rivalry between the British and the Zamindars of Burdwan. The Rais cunningly managed to evade the subjugation of the British, preserve their zamindari, while acquiring wealth. 

Though it is said that the descendants of the family still reside in West Bengal, long gone are the days of their affluence and power. In 1959, the University of Burdwan was established on the premises of the estate. The university is the main shareholder of the royal property. In 2013, the royal estate was declared a heritage property by the Archaeological Survey of India. The Burdwan royal family is fondly remembered by the people residing around the palace today. The flora that the zamindars planted continues to not just exist but is also taken care of by the people. 

MARBLE PALACE:

Situated in the narrow lanes of North Kolkata, a white resplendent construction stands prominent. Known as the Marble Palace, the structure is said to have been built using ninety different varieties of marble. The palace was constructed in 1835 by sixteen-year-old Rajendra Mullick, whose ancestors were gold merchants from Rajasthan. It is even said that his ancestors originally bore the surname ‘Seal’. During the medieval times, the Mughal Emperor honoured Jadav Seal, a scion of the family with the surname ‘Mullick’. Since then, the family has used Mullick as their surname, instead of Seal. In 1878, when Rajendra Mullick was granted the title of ‘Raja’ by Edward Robert Bulwer-Lytton, the then Viceroy of India, the palace became a rajbadi.

Unlike contemporary rajbadis, the Marble Palace was inspired by European architecture, without any traditional Indian influences. This could be credited to the fact that Rajendra Mullick despite being a Bengali, was raised by an English man, thereby influencing Mullick’s tastes. The construction was completed in five years by five hundred Indian and foreign artisans. The thakurdalan, was built in a typical Victorian fashion adorned with blue and white floral stucco-work. English garden seats and urns filled with palms made the space more fitting to host a European event, rather than the traditional Durga Puja. The structure comprises of a massive courtyard, a colonnaded porch at the entrance, decorated white columns and a zoo. This zoo consisted of a collection of peacocks, parrots, emu and monkeys and is believed to be Kolkata’s first zoo. Apart from palm trees and marble fountains in the entrance and the garden, the palace has an interesting combination of sculptures including those of the Buddha, Hindu and Greek gods, Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus, and Queen Victoria. 

The interiors of the palace were decorated with Venetian mirrors, Belgian chandeliers, carved furniture, and other ornate items that overflowed into the courtyard and provided a tiny glimpse of the family’s wealth. In fact, it is believed that the family was so affluent that they lit their cigars by burning currency notes. Reportedly, Rajendra Mullick included a binding clause in the trust deeds that forbade any alterations or expansion to the original structure. Presently, the palace has been turned into a museum displaying priceless artefacts and paintings from across the world. 

While most of the rajbadis in Bengal have either been converted into museums, heritage hotels or government institutions, active only during Durga Puja celebrations, some remain in a deplorable state. With the implementation of the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act of 1951, the opulent status of these families became a thing of the past. The grand palaces and the wealth they had amassed were seized by the government as the family members scattered away to different parts of Bengal. Notwithstanding their current state, these structures narrate the tale of a regal legacy and cultural heritage that continues to reverberate in the walls of these mansions.