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 CHAPTER IV.

Raghab Rai Chaudhuri and the Bansberia House.

Jayananda left five sons of whom Ragbab was the eldest, and as the other sons died leaving no issue, Raghab like his father, ultimately became the sole owner of the entire family property. Raghab was equally fortunate with Jayananda and like him succeeded in gaining the favour of the Emperor, Shah Jehan, who by a Sanad dated the 12th Rubi 1066 H. E. (1649 A.D.) conferred upon him the title of "Chaudhuri" and in the year following that of "Mazumdar." The bestowal of these titular distinctions was not unaccompanied by grants of a substantial character, for, as a matter of fact, Raghab got Vast Lakhraj or rent-free lands as absolute gifts and the Zamindari right of the following twenty-one Parganas, namely, Arsha, Haldaha, Mamdanipur, Panjnaur, Boro, Shahapur, Jehanabad, Shaistanagore, Shahanagore, Raipur Kotwali, Paonan, Khosalpore, Moiat, Buxbunder, Havilishahar, Paikan, Mozzaferpore, Hathikanda, Selimpur, Amirabad, and Janglipur. As the greater part of these estates lay in Sarkar Satgaon, Raghab for the better management of these large additions to his ancestral property, was obliged to put up near Satgaon or rather Buxbunder Hooghly, the then capital of Lower Bengal, and he, accordingly, built a large house at a village two miles to the east on the right bank of the river Hooghly, to which he gave the name of Bangshabati, commonly known as Bansberia, and began to spend most part of the year there, paying occasional visits to his ancestral house at Patuli, especially at the time of the Durga Puja. At this time Bansberia was a small insignificant village with a sparse population, consisting mostly, of the dregs and scum of society. It was