Rajshahi Raj family

Palace of the Rajas
Country	East Bengal
Titles	Raja Rai-Raiyan Raja Bahadur
Founded	18th century
Founder	Raja Kamdev Rai
Current head	Legally Abolished (1950)
Ethnicity	Bengali

Rajshahi Raj was a large zamindari (feudatory kingdom) which occupied a vast position of Bengal (present day West Bengal, India and Bangladesh). It was the second largest zamindari with an area of about 33,670 km², after the Burdwan Raj. The zamindari came into being during the early part of the 18th century when Nawab Murshid Quli Khan was the Dewan / Subahdar of Bengal (1704–1727).

The family ruled their dominions and estates from the Natore Palace in present-day Bangladesh. A member of this Raj family, Maharaja Jagadindra Nath Ray, was a patron of cricket, and wanted to defeat the British in their own game of Cricket. His rival was the Maharaja of Koch Bihar.

The Rajshahi Raj family is descended from Kamdev Rai.The rulers and holders of this estate were Brahmins. Many old aristocrats and lords lost their estates during the rule of the Nawab Murshid Quli Khan. Besides, many zamindars lost their zamindari on account of their disobedience and rebellion. Murshid Quli Khan settled these zamindaries with his trusted followers. In this process of replacement the most fortunate beneficiary was the Rajshahi zamindari. The family also benefited by another feature of nawab's revenue policy of encouragement to the formation of big zamindaries.

The Rajshahi Raj family traced its origin to Kamdev Rai, a tahsildar of the Puthia Raj family. Kamdev had three sons Ramjivan, Raghunandan and Bishnuram. Raghunandan was the very promising and enterprising. Raja Darpanarain, the zamindar of Puthia, and Murshid Quli Khan had significant contributions behind Raghunandan's rise to prominence.