Badshahi Angti (novel)

Badshahi Angti (The Emperor's Ring)

Badshahi Angti book cover
Author	Satyajit Ray
Cover artist	Satyajit Ray
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Genre	Detective fiction
Published	1969 (Ananda Publishers)
Media type	Print
Preceded by	Feludar Goendagiri
Followed by	Kailash Chowdhuryr Pathor

Badshahi Angti (English title : The Emperor's Ring) is a novel by Satyajit Ray featuring the private detective Feluda. This novel was first serialized in Sandesh magazine in the year 1966-1967. It was then released in book form in 1969 by Ananda Publishers. This is the first Feluda novel created by Satyajit Ray.

Feluda along with Topshe and Topshe's father decide to visit Dhirendra Kumar Sanyal (or Dhiru Kaka, as called by Topshe), who lives in Lucknow. Feluda now works for a bank. They reach Dhiru Kaka's house. In the evening, while having tea, they have a visitor named Dr. Srivastav, who is an osteopath and a good friend of Dhiru Kaka. Dr. Srivastav tells Dhiru Kaka that last night a daku or a dacoit had broke into his house. He believes that the dacoit must have come to rob a precious ring given to him by Pyarelal Seth, because he had saved the life of his only son. He further tells that when Pyarelal had his second heart-attack, Pyarelal tried to tell Srivastav something. He said - a spy.....a spy... . Then he died. Dr. Srivastav tells that robberies do not happen much in his neighborhood due to the presence of Bonobihari Sarkar, who owns a private menagerie with various poisonous animals. Dhiru Kaka tells Feluda that the ring once belonged to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Dhiru Kaka offers to keep the ring with him. Later, when Dr. Srivastav leaves the house, Feluda sees a car following the doctor's car. Feluda tells Topshe that somebody had been listening to their conservation, because Feluda finds a half-burnt cigarette in the garden.

Next day, Feluda, Topshe, his father and Dhiru Kaka go to the Imambara. There, they find Bonobihari Sarkar, who invites them to his private zoo. In the Bhoolbhulaia (The Labyrinth), Feluda was keeping close to the wall. In the roof of the Imambara, they find a man. Dhiru Kaka introduces him as Mahavir Seth, the son of Pyarelal. In the evening, they come to Mr. Sarkar's house. There they see three of the most poisonous creatures - rattle snake, a blue scorpion and a Black Widow Spider. There they meet Mr. Sarkar's assistant, Ganesh Guha. They also learn that Mr. Sarkar knows about the ring. When they came back to Dhiru Kaka's house, his servant informs him that a sadhu baba was waiting for him. He left a while ago. Dhiru Kaka rushes to the cupboard where he kept the ring but he finds that there is no ring. Feluda and Topshe rush out to find the sadhu baba, but to no success. While coming back to the house, someone throws a rolled up paper on Feluda. But Feluda could not catch him.