There was a King and a beautiful queen. The story starts as usual with a King and a
Queen. But this is a true story of the king, Ramendra Narayan Rai, the 2nd
Kumar of a tiny kingdom Bhawal (now
Gazipur/Tangail region of Bangladesh) who lived with his queen in the Kingdom
of Bhawal some time at the end of Nineteenth century.
Eventually, the beautiful queen fell in love with the king' s
physician, that developed into a serious affair. The lovers decided to kill the
king by poisoning him. The opportunity came soon. During the summer the royal
family decided to go on a vacation to the hill-resort of Darjeeling, a
quiet, cool and pleasant resort city that was also the summer capital of
British Magistrate of Bihar.
Arsenic, which is odorless and tasteless was mixed with the
king's tea. The king became very sick, with typical vomiting diarrhea and
dehydration. The physician examined the patient and declared it to be Cholera.
Arsenic poisoning mimics cholera; and cholera was a very feared disease at that
time. This scared the visitors and even attendants and they tried to stay away
as far as possible.
Soon the king became lethargic/dehydrated and almost pulseless.
The doctor declared him dead and ordered funeral arrangements. He was to be
cremated; the pyre was readied. But suddenly the sky turned dark and a
thunderstorm struck. Pouring rain, thunder began; but the Queen and
the doctor did not want to cancel the funeral. They pushed some people to take
the body to the riverside and start a fire using gasoline and what not.
It was a night of thunder and lightening and there was Cholera
infested body,....the hindus were superstitious about ghosts and their taboos....they
took the body to the pyre under threats, but were in no mood to go thru with
the cremation. As water flooded the area, mud-slides came down the
hills....they threw the body into the river, came running back and declared
that they have cremated the body.
They royal family believed and did not argue. Next day as the weather cleared, they returned
to the kingdom of Bhawal and declared that the king had died of Cholera in Darjeeling (in 1909) and needed a successor.
The British Magistrate who was assigned to the kingdom, picked a
seven year old nephew of the king and put him on the throne, under the
guardianship of the Queen. But somehow this magistrate had some suspicion about
the king's sudden demise, and he noted his suspicion in his report to the
English authorities. The Empire did not think any further investigation was
necessary since there was no plaintiff.
Eventually, the king did not die. He had been deeply unconscious
and dehydrated. Fortunately for him, the rain and the floods washed his body and
he swallowed large amount of water. He was washed down by the landslide flooding
waters, somewhere down the river. He lay in the sand shore for hours or days.
A group of Hindu monks were travelling; one of them spotted his
body. They came, picked him up, found that he was breathing and was trying to
wake up. They carried him to their temple. They nursed him and fed him and he
gradually recovered. But he had total amnesia. He couldnot remember his name,
who he was or what he was doing there. The monks questioned him again and again
but he couldnot remember anything at all. They finally told him, he could stay
at the temple/monastery and become a monk.
The king remained.....they gave him a name and monk's clothes.
Days passed, months passed, years passed. The monks used to walk to
different villages preaching their religion. Almost 12 years later, this
group of monks were passing thru the kingdom of Bhawal. As the king walked in front of the palace ,
suddenly he looked at the sculpture of the lion at the gate, and he screamed.
Memory came back to him. He began screaming at the top of his voice : this is
my palace; this is my kingdom, this is Bhawal, this is my kingdom. Every body
was awe struck. The palace guards came out and pushed the monks away.
But now he knew who he was. He came back to the monastery and
started telling the story. He went to the bazaar in Bhawal and looked up some
old-timers, and some of them began recognizing him.
Of course, the royal family disagreed....the old queen dismissed
it as hogwash, and nonsense. The British magistrate had changed and he was a
different guy. He could not be of any help. The royal family became irritated
with this bazaar gossip, and sent out their guards to kick this
"lunatic" out of the area; they threatened to kill him.
But the then British Magistrate smelled something fishy. He began
looking at the old files and came across a notation that his predecessor
Magistrate had made about the suspicious nature of the king's death and
disappearance. He called the monks to his office and advised them to file a
law-suit in the Calcutta High Court.
This became a high sensation. Newspapers published stories after
stories. Finally, the case went into trial in 1921--22. This was a high profile
trial. Witnesses were called by both sides. Arguments were flying. Tempers were
rising. Finally the king/monk took the stand. After describing several personal
things and what went on in the palace, he took a deep breath and said, I will
describe something on my wife's body. On her inner thigh, on the right side,
there is 3" long birthmark. Nobody but her parents or her husband would
know this. The Court ordered a medical examiner to examine the queen, and she
testified that it was exactly as described.
The defendants still fought....the privy council of King George the 5th, convened a special session in London.
They examined all the papers and said whatever the Calcutta High Court decides
will be abiding. The court gave verdict for the king....restored him his
kingdom......the old queen and the physician were given life sentences. The
king entered his kingdom victorious.
ISRAR HASAN
16 JUNE 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment