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Rani Bhabani was the Queen of Natore, Bengal or 'Natorer Rani' as she was famously called. She made great contributions in Tarapith & renovated Benaras.

In Varanasi, Durga Kund Mandir was constructed by Rani Bhabani in the 18th century.

Born in Chhatimgram village, Bogra District,Her father's name was Atmaram Choudhury.Bhabani was married off to Raja Ramkanta Moitra,the then zamindar of Rajshahi.After his death, Bhabani became the zamindar, and started being referred to as Rani.She was known as Ardhabangeshwari.

A woman as a zamindar was extremely rare in those days, but Rani Bhabani managed the vast Rajshahi zamindari most efficiently and effectively for over four decades.
Maharani Bhavani was very pious in her personal life. She passed her life in a strict disciplined way.

She conducted the administrative work skillfully. As a Maharani she was an impartial judge. Rani Bhavani had a very hard time during the fag end of her life. The Zamindari (estate) incurred serious loss due to the change of the revenue policy of the company.

In spite of being the owner of a large Zamindari (estate), she had to depend on the stipend of the government in the later part of her life. The amount of this stipend gradually decreased and became Rs. 1000/- only in the end.

She witnessed the glorious days of Natore estate and she also witnessed its days of down fall. Not only the downfall of Natore estate came but also most of the outstanding Raj families ruined within the year 1802. This dignified lady breathed her last at the age of 79 years.

Her intelligence, her skill for administration of the estate, her generosity, made her much respectful in the society. No sooner had the Rani died than the glory of Natore Raj family came to an end.
After the death of her husband in 1748 Rani Bhabani became the...

..legal owner of Natore estate &was running the administration of the estate excellently. To conduct her administrative duty,her daughter Tarasundari&Dewan Dayaram Ray helped her in all respects.
It may be said that Rani Bhabani conducted administration of her estate successfully

During the period of Rani Bhabani three kinds of rent were collected: legal revenue for the land in possession, monetary fine as the punishment for committing crime, abwab or extra charges and miscellaneous.

During her tenure farmers had to pay very small amount of rent,but businessmen had to pay more. At that time rent for the homestead was of very small amount&nobody had to pay rent for houses having doors at northern side.The money was spent on various religious&development works.

Rani Bhabani was not only an administrator but also a well-wisher of her subjects. Considering the all-round development some scholars conclude that, Rani Bhabani's tenure is the golden age for the welfare of the subjects.

She administered a big Zamindari (estate) in Rajshahi with peace and order for a long period of 50 years. During her tenure the subjects were out of poverty and scarcity.
She conducted various primary schools and Chatuspathies that were Sanskrit schools for teaching...

...the four Vedas, grammar, philosophy etc. in the district of Rajshahi. She offered stipends/scholarships for maintaining those primary schools and Chatuspathies. At that time Hindu law and logic were taught in various primary schools.

There were centres for teaching Sanskrit at Baria, Pakuria,Natore,Govinathpur, Amhati,Basudevpur,Malanchi, Baranagar,Debipur & Brindaban Akhra of Natore. With the money of Raja Ramkanta and Rani Bhavani 33 Vaishnav Akhara and 83 toles (primary schools) were established.

Writing in the Rajshahi Gazette O'Malley mentioned that the Rani established about 380 shrines, guesthouses etc, built many temples in different parts of the country and endowed money and lands. She constructed a big road that ran from Natore to Bhawanipur in Bogra..

..and is still called 'Rani Bhabanir Jangal. She also built numerous water tanks, alleviating the acute water problem of her subjects.
Rani Bhabani was not only a successful administrator but also was equally concerned about the religious upliftment of her subjects.

She paid much attention to the spread of institutional religion and for that she encouraged establishment of temples in various parts of her Zamindari and beyond. To memorize her birthplace at Chatiangram, her birthplace, she built a beautiful temple.

The name of the temple was kept Jai Durga Mandir after her mother's name.Rani Bhabani had got constructed more temples in other places too and some of those are: Shiva Temple at Mammi Kalikapur near, Raghunath Temple at Mandapukur,Jaikalibari & Tarakeswar Shiva Temple of Natore.

Maharani Bhabani's religious activities and favour did not only confine with Natore but crossed the border of the region. She planned to build a Varanasi in Bengal. From 1755, a huge complex with over a dozen temples was built in Baronagar.

At Kashi, she spent huge money for the Durga temple established in 1770 and in the same year the temple of Gopal was made under her patronage.
Rani Bhabani was a farsighted lady. She was the first to realise that Hindu widows should be remarried.

Later on Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar introduced it in Bengal.Tarasundari,daughter of Rani Bhabani became widow at early age.Perhaps for this she took initiative for widow marriage.On other hand Raj Ballav of Dhaka tried to introduce widow marriage because his daughter became widow.

Rani Bhabani and Raj Ballav placed the proposal of their daughters' marriage before the pandits (scholars).

The pandits of Vikrampur gave opinion in favour of widow remarriage. Because of the opposition of Raja Krishnachandra it was not possible for the Rani to introduce..

..& implement the idea of widow remarriage.Her proposal for widow remarriage showed her farsightedness.

Rani Bhabani was kind enough to widows.She offered monthly stipend to many widows.Rani made a shelter for widows on the bank of Ganga&made arrangements for their maintenance.

Rani Bhabani (1716–1795) was a Zamindar during the British India colonial era in what is now of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. A woman as a zamindar was extremely rare in those days,..

..but Rani Bhabani managed the vast Rajshahi zamindari most efficiently and effectively for over four decades. Her life and contributions to society can be a lesson for any woman but people don't know much about her.

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