Maharaja Jagadindra Nath Roy Bahadur (Moitra) (20 October 1868- 5 January 1925) [1] known as the Maharaja of Natore was a noted zamindar of Natore from Bengal and 2nd last King of Undivided Bengal. He is also noted for his contribution to the game of cricket in British India. [2] [3]
He was the adopted son of Govind Chandra Nath Ray (Moitra), the Zamindar of Natore, a member of the Rajshahi Raj family, who died childless and Brajasundari, his widow adopted Jagadindranath at age of fifteen. The personal title of Maharaja was bestowed upon him in 1877. He later made Calcutta his home. Natore Rajbari, the Natore Raj family's ancestral home since the time of Rani Bhabani is now a protected monument of Bangladesh. [4] [5] [6]
He was a patron of art and sports [2] including the Town Club of Calcutta and the Bengal Gymkhana. [7] He was editor of a monthly journal titled Manasi o Marmabani and earned a reputation as a journalist. [3]
He was a great cricket enthusiast and one of the active committee members of the Calcutta Cricket Club. In 1890, he promoted his own cricket team known as Natore. He was a great nationalist and his team consisted of Indian members. He promoted the Natore Stadium, a large cricket venue in his hometown of Natore and a sprawling cricket stadium, called Natore Garden in Calcutta at Ballygunge, which rivaled the Eden Gardens Stadium also in Calcutta. He also roped in prominent Indian players of his time, like Mehta, Baloo, Shivram, Yeshwant, Ganpat Palwankar, Vithal Palwankar, Sheshacari, K. N. Mistry, Warden, H.L. Semper, Sardaranjan and his brothers, Muktidaranjan, Kuladaranjan, and Pramodranjan. Moni Das, another noted cricket player of the era from Bengal, was also patronized by the Maharaja. Although the Maharaja had only one eye, he would bat and field himself and was a good cricket player. His son, Kumar Jogindra Nath was also a good cricket player. The Natore team boasted a nationalist spirit and the team included many noted Dalit cricketers of the era. He adopted Srishchandra, a young but poor cricket talent and saved the life of an aspiring talent of Bengal. [7] The Natore team promoted by him rivaled the team of Cooch Behar which was promoted by Maharaja Sir Nripendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur of Cooch Behar in Bengal. The Natore team lasted until 1945, patronized by his son after his death. [2] [8] [7] [9] [10] [11]
In 1901, he was made Chairman of the Congress Reception Committee at Calcutta and gave a noted lecture on India's state of political affairs and industries. [12]
He was elected as a member of the Bengal Legislative Council in 1913. [4]
He died in 1925 [2] survived by his son, Raja Joladhi Nath Roy, who succeeded him as Natore Raj. [4]
There is a school named after him, which he founded, named Maharaja Jagadindra Nath Roy School at Natore.
Rajshahi Division is one of the eight first-level administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of 18,174.4 square kilometres (7,017.2 sq mi) and a population at the 2022 Census of 20,353,119. Rajshahi Division consists of 8 districts, 70 Upazilas and 1,092 Unions.
Natore district is a district of Rajshahi Division located in northern Bangladesh. It borders the metropolitan city of Rajshahi and used to be a part of Rajshahi District.
Cooch Behar district is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Formerly part of the Kamarupa kingdom, the area became the heart of the Kamata Kingdom in the 12th century. During the British Raj, the district was known as Cooch Behar state ruled by the Koch dynasty until 1949, when it became part of India. The district consists of the flat plains of North Bengal and has several rivers: the most notable being the Teesta, Jaldhaka and Torsa. The district has the highest proportion of Scheduled Castes in the country, where they form a majority.
North Bengal or Uttar Banga is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Generally, it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River and includes the Barind Tract. The West Bengal part denotes Jalpaiguri Division and the Malda division together. The Bihar parts include the Kishanganj district. It also includes parts of Darjeeling Hills. Traditionally, the Ganga River divides Bengal into South Bengal and North Bengal, divided again into Terai and Dooars regions.
Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It was located south of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, in present-day West Bengal.
Rani Bhabani, also known as Ardhabangeshwari(অর্ধবঙ্গেশ্বরী) and Natorer Rani or the Queen of Natore, was a Hindu zamindar during the British colonial era in what is now Rajshahi, Bangladesh. She became the zamindar after the death of her husband Raja Ramkanta Moitra (Ray), 'Zamindar' of Natore estate.
The Eastern States Agency was an agency or grouping of princely states in eastern India, during the latter years of the British Raj. It was created in 1933, by the unification of the former Chhattisgarh States Agency and the Orissa States Agency; the agencies remained intact within the grouping. In 1936, the Bengal States Agency was added.
The Bengal cricket team is an Indian domestic cricket team representing the state of West Bengal. The team based in Kolkata. It is administered by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and participate in tournaments organized by the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).is a domestic cricket team representing the Indian state of West bengal. The team competes in the First-class cricket competition known as the Ranji Trophy and the List A cricket Vijay Hazare Trophy and the T20 competition Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT).
The Singranatore family is the consanguineous name given to a noble family in Rajshahi of landed aristocracy in erstwhile East Bengal and West Bengal that were prominent in the nineteenth century till the fall of the monarchy in India by Royal Assent in 1947 and subsequently abolished by the newly formed democratic Government of East Pakistan in 1950 by the State Acquisition Act.
Sir Jagaddipendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, was Maharaja of Cooch Behar, in India. He served in British forces during World War II and ceded full ruling powers to the Government of India in 1949.
Natore Rajbari was a royal palace in Natore, Bangladesh. It was the residence and seat of the Rajshahi Raj family of zamindars. The famous queen Rani Bhabani lived here and after the death of her husband, expanded both the estate and the palace.
Alexander Lindsay "Alec" Hosie was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket in both England and British India. In England, he was mostly associated with Hampshire, for whom he made 80 first-class appearances. In British India, he played for the Europeans cricket team in the Bombay Tournament, in addition to being Bengal's first captain in the Ranji Trophy. Hosie was the chairman of selectors for India's first home Test series against England in December 1933–March 1934. He later served as the president of the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club from 1945 to 1948.
The Raikut family was a princely family that controlled large estates in Jalpaiguri what is now West Bengal, India, first as subjects to the state of Koch Bihar, later as Zamindars to the Mughal rulers of Bengal, and then to British Raj. Their story parallels that of the Bardhaman Raj, from the same region.
Dighapatia Raj was a zamindari in present-day Rajshahi, which was ruled by this dynasty of 7 generations of Rajas from early 18th century till the mid-20th century; when the democratic government took power after the end of the British Monarchy's rule in India, in 1950, the East Pakistan government abolished aristocracies and the zamindari system in present-day Bangladesh. The family was seated at the Dighapatia Palace.
Rajshahi Raj was the largest zamindari which occupied a vast position of Bengal. The Royal Family of Rajshahi used the title Ray/Rai.
Sarat Kumar Ray (1876–1946) was a member of the royal family of Dighapatia. A noted scholar, he was the son of the Raja (King) Pramathanath Ray and lived in the Maharaja's Palace. Along with historian Ramaprasad Chanda, he co-founded the Varendra Research Museum, which Lord Dundas the Governor of Bengal, inaugurated in November 1919. He was well traveled, and visited England in 1900. He was a friend of Rabindranath Tagore.
Zamindars of Natore were influential aristocratic Bengali Zamindars, who owned large estates in what is today Natore District in Bangladesh .
Maharaja Nripendra Narayan was the Maharaja of the princely state of Cooch Bihar, India, from 1863 to 1911.
Amar Roy Pradhan or Amarendra Nath Roy Pradhan was an Indian politician from All India Forward Bloc party. He remained MP from Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency eight times from 1977 to 1999, prior to which he was member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly MLA from Mekhliganj thrice (1962–1971).
Kilvidi Seshachari was an Indian cricketer and a member of the first Indian cricket team to tour England in 1911. He played for the Hindus team as a wicket-keeper in the Bombay Quadrangular tournaments between 1902 and 1912. He was considered the best wicket-keeper in India in reports from the period. In addition to the Hindus cricket team in Bombay and the Indian team that toured England, Seshachari played for the Ootacamund Civilians and the Maharaja of Natore's cricket teams.