A Royal Resurrection

With the Luxurious Belgadia Palace as Her Base, Uttara Gangopadhyay Explores Odisha's Little Known Gem—Baripada.

I was sitting in the elaborately furnished living room of Belgadia Palace, waiting for the royal sisters Mrinalika Manjari and Akshita Manjari Bhanj Deo. The winter sun poured in through the floor-to-ceiling, arch-top glass windows.

Earlier in the day, I had left Kolkata and reached Baripada in Odisha, less than four hours away by car. Baripada had always been an entry point to Simlipal Tiger Reserve for me, and I believed there was nothing in the town that would warrant a stop. I was wrong. A few twists and turns through Baripada and I was in front of an ornate gateway that opened to a long gravel drive flanked by a mango tree, among other varieties. At the end of the drive stood a gleaming white double-storied palace, the home of the present generation of the Bhanj Deo family.

It was initially built for Sucharu Devi, the daughter of Keshub Chandra Sen, a noted 19th-century philosopher and social reformer of Bengal. Sri Ram Chandra Bhanj Deo had fallen in love with young Sucharu while he was in Calcutta, and later married her despite stiff opposition from his family.