Rajpratarak by Partha Chattopadhyay [Hardcover]

In 1921, an ascetic, partially naked, was seen on the streets of Dhaka, and many people identified him as the elder son of the royal family of Bhawal Estate, the once popular Prince Romendra Narayan Ray. Prince Romendra Narayan Ray was a hunter, indulged in excessive pleasures, and was notorious for his womanizing tendencies. Such was the life of many zamindar (landlord) sons in Bengal at that time. It was commonly believed that Romendra Narayan Ray had passed away 12 years earlier in Darjeeling. The arrival of the ascetic created a huge stir in Dhaka and Bengal society at large. The ascetic's wife labeled him a ‘fraud,’ while the daughters of the Bhawal Rajbansh, Romendra Narayan Ray’s sisters, saw the physical traits of their late brother in the ascetic and accepted him as their brother. This marked the beginning of the famous legal battle—the ‘Bhawal Sannyasi Case,’ which became well-known across the land.

The ascetic filed a case to recover the property that had been handed over to the Court of Wards, while the British Raj labeled him a ‘royal fraud,’ which of course, was a matter to be settled in court. The case raised important questions about the process of ‘identifying a person’—whether it was based on memory, physical traits, or recognition by acquaintances, and how an individual should be identified. This case, which lasted for an extended period, eventually reached the Privy Council in London, where the ascetic won, although by then, he had already settled as a household man and remarried.

This book presents a new and information-rich account of the widely discussed ‘Bhawal Sannyasi Case,’ which was one of the most sensational and history-making legal battles in colonial India.