Bhagwandas Bagla

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Bhagwandas Bagla was the first Marwari agarwal millionaire and was a very wealthy timber merchant. He was originally from Rajasthan but he even proceeded his business to Burma and settled in Rangoon. Sethani ka Johara (The Reservoir of the Wealthy Lady) was built by his wife which is some 3 km west by the Ratangarh road, as a relief project during the terrible ‘Chhapan Akaal’, the Famine of 1956 ^[1] The water attracts birds and mammals such as ‘Nilgai’ (blue bull – a large antelope.) .

He is notably known for making rasgulla popular.

In fact there is a well known story related to this known to rasgulla lovers:

One day Bhagwandas Bagla, an opulent businessman, stopped at Nabin Chandra's shop while driving by. His child was thirsty. Bagla asked the helper-boy of Nabin's shop to fetch a glass of water. As was the custom of the day, the boy offered sweetmeat along with water. It was the special 'Rosogolla' of Nabin Chandra's shop served on a dish. Bagla's child was delighted to taste this unique sweet. Seeing this, Bhagwandas Bagla himself tasted 'Rosogolla' and was fascinated. Soon, the fame of this special sweet spread like wildfire and within a short span of 6/7 years, Rosogolla won the hearts of millions in and outside Bengal.

Ironically, the orthodox society did not accept 'Rosogolla' for a long time. They opined that a sweetmeat which was prepared by boiling, was not fit to be served to God for worship. Gradually, these negative thinkings and prejudices were eradicated and ‘Rosogolla’ became a universal favourite.

Many roads/schools/colleges/temples have been named in his and his children's memory.

C-18 Bhagwan Das Road (next to Rajmandir Cinema) Jaipur 302001.
Parvati Bagla Road, Tilak Nagar Kanpur- 208002.
Ganpat Bagla Road, Barabazar H.O., Kolkata - 700007.
Bagla School road, Churu, Rajasthan -331001.
Bagla Road, Hissar.
Bagla Convent School, Babupeth. Chandrapur – 442401.
Seth Phool Chand Bagla (P. G.) College, Hathras.
Bagla Primary School, Pashchim Medinipur-west Bengal.
Debinibas- Bagla Mandir, South Dumdum, Kolkata.
Purushottam Bagla Homoeopathic College & Hospital, Bagla Nagar, Babu Peth, Chandrapur-44, Maharashtra