FOUR DAYS RAJAH

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 August 1946, Page 5

FOUR DAYS RAJAH

INDIAN IN FUNERAL PYRE CASE DEATH IN CALCUTTA (Rec. 10.35 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 4. An Indian prince died in Calcutta to-day five days after he had won his 25-year-old legal battle for an estate which returns an income of £lOO,OOO a year. He was the Rajah of Bhowal (Kumah Ramandra Narayan Roy). . The Privy Council Judicial Committee on July 30 ruled that he was the legal Rajah of Bhowal. The Rajah claimed that the Ranee and other relatives poisoned him while he lay ill at Darjeeling in 1909. He said that soon afterwards they thought that he was dead and took him to- a Hindu crematorium. _A sudden rainstorm interrupted the ceremonies before the cremation. The mourners placed his body near the burning pyre and sought refuge. The rain revived the Rajah and he crawled away. Unaware of his identity he wandered India for J2 years as a beggai until he recovered his memory in 1920. He spent 26 years establishing his identity and died after being Rajah of Bhowal for four days.