208 
J. Wise —On the 'Barah Bhuyas of Eastern Bengal. [No. 3, 
The residence of the Rajas of Chandradip was at Kachua, close to the 
modern station of Baqirganj ; hut during the lifetime of Kandarpa Rai, or 
immediately afterwards, they were obliged to move further inland to a place 
called Madhavapasha, where the Rajas have resided ever since. This re¬ 
moval was necessitated by frequent forays made by the Mags and Portu¬ 
guese of Chittagong, against whom the Rajas were unable to contend. 
The ruins of temples and dwelling houses are still to be seen at Kachua, 
but the majority of the Kayastlis followed their chief to the newly selected 
town. 
Ramchandra Rai succeeded on the death of his father Kandarpa Rai. 
Of him many stories are still extant. He married a daughter of Rajah Pra¬ 
tapaditya of Jessore. Between the families of Jessore and Chandradip 
there were many ties of friendship, and the marriage was celebrated with 
great pomp, but ended in a permanent quarrel between the families. Ram- 
chandra, against the advice of all his friends, insisted on taking with him 
a famous jester, named Ramai Bir, who amused him by his wit and frolics. 
On the marriage day, this jester, dressed in female garments, entered the 
house occupied by the Rani, and conversed with her. His disguise was 
complete, and she did not detect the imposture. Shortly afterwards, it 
was discovered, and Raja Pratapaditya was so enraged, that he vowed he 
would put his newly-made son-in-law to death. The bride, however, warned 
her husband, and at night he escaped from the palace and reached the en¬ 
campment where his followers were. The rivers had all been obstructed, 
but accompanied by a trusty servant, Ram Mohan Mai, famous for his 
strength, he embarked in a small canoe and fled. At the places where the 
obstructions were, Ram Mohan dragged the boat over the bank, and launch¬ 
ed it on the other side. In this way the Raja escaped and reached Chan¬ 
dradip in safety. 
It was not until after the lapse of many years, and probably not until 
the death of Pratapaditya in 1593, that the bride joined her husband. 
At the place where she halted, until permission was obtained from her hus¬ 
band to proceed, a market was established, which is still called the “ Badhu 
Thakurain Hat.” 
Raja Ramchandra Rai was succeeded by his son Krishna Narayana 
Rai, who accompanied the Nawab of Dhaka on several of his military expe¬ 
ditions. One day, passing the Nawab’s kitchen while dinner was being 
prepared, he inhaled the fumes from some savoury joint. The Nawab made 
merry over this, and told the Raja that smelling an unclean thing was the 
same as eating half of it, and that in consequence of what had occurred he 
would be outcasted. The Raja took this banter so much to heart, that he 
transferred his lands to his younger brother Basi Deb Rai and became an 
ascetic. 
