Tripurais a state in North-East India. A very typical land of India , Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the north, south and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are Bengali and Kokborok (also known as Tripuri). It was formerly an independent Tripuri kingdom and was merged with independent India on 15 October 1949 by the Tripura Merger Agreement. It was also known as Hill Tippera (anglicized version of Tipra) during the British India period and has a history of over 2500 years and 186 Kings.
Origin of the name Tripura
Several theories exist pertaining to the origin of Tripura's name:
The origin of the word Tripura is attributed to the legendary tyrant king of Tripura, Tripur. According to legend, Tripur was the 39th descendant of Druhya, who was a descendant of Yayati, one of the lunar race kings. He was so powerful that he ordered his subjects to worship him as the sole God. People fled to escape his tyranny to the nearby state of Hiramba (Cachar).
The word Tripura may have originated from Tripura Sundari - the presiding deity of the land which is famous as one of the 51 Shakti Peethas, pilgrimage centres of Shakti worshippers of Hinduism.
According to another school of thought the name Tripura was probably given to the state in honour of the temple at Udaipur, Tripureshwari, the wife of lord Shiva.
According to historian Kailash Chandra Singha, the word Tripura is a derivative from two different Kokborok words twi and pra. Twi means water, pra means near. It is likely that the state bears the name Tripura from this fact that in ancient time the boundaries of Tripura extended up to the Bay of Bengal when its ruler held sway from the Garo Hills to the Arakan.
According to another belief, Tripura is a corruption of Twi-bupra. The meaning of twi is water and that of bupra is confluence. Several villages in Tripura are named after the confluence of various rivers, e.g. Twikormo, Twirisa, Twisarangchak, and Twimudul
History
Tripura finds mention in the Mahabharat, the Puran and pillar inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka.Tripura has a long historic past, its unique tribal culture and a fascinating folklore.In the distant past Tripura was known as Kirat Desh. There are references of Tripura in the Mahabharat and the Puranas. Tripura, the descendent of King Druya and Bhabru, contemprary of Yudhishtara, was the ruler on whose name Tripura is named. One more explanation says that the territory is named after the temple of Tripuri Sundari, located at Radhakrishnapur.
Tripura was a princely state before its merger with the Indian Union. The Tripuri Kings (Habugra) held the title of Manikya and ruled Tripura for 3000 years until its merger. Udaipur, in South Tripura district, was the capital of the Kingdom. The capital was shifted to Old Agartala by King Krishna Manikya in the eighteenth century, and then to the present Agartala in the 19th Century. The 19th century marked the beginning of Tripura's modern era, when King Bir Chandra Manikya Bahadur Debbarma modeled his administration on the pattern of British India and enacted various reforms.
The Ganamukti Parishad movement led to the integration of the kingdom with India in 1949. Tripura was heavily affected by the partition of India and the majority of the population now comprises Hindu Bengalis, many of whom came as refugees from East Pakistan after independence in 1947. Tripura became a centrally administered Union Territory on July 1, 1963 and attained the status of a full-fledged state on January 21, 1972.
Tripura is a LAndlocked hilly state in northeastern India with altitudes varying from 50 to 3080 ft above sea level, though the majority of the population lives in the plains. Tripura has a tropical climate and receives rainfall during the monsoons. It is surrounded on the north, west, and south by Bangladesh and is accessible to the rest of India through the Karimganj district of Assam and Aizawl district of Mizoram in the east. The state extends between 22°56'N and 24°32'N and 90°09'E and 92°10'E. Its maximum stretch measures about 184 km from north to south and 113 km from east to west with an area of 10,492 kmē. Tripura is the third smallest state of the country.
Although landlocked, Tripura has many rivers including the Manu River which originates here.
Culture:
Tripura has several diverse ethno-linguistic groups, which has given rise to a composite culture. The dominant culture is Bengali, while minority cultures are those of the Tripuris,Jamatia, Reang, Noatia, Koloi, Murasing, Chakma, Halam, Garo, Kuki, Luchai, Mogh, Munda, Oraon, Santhal and Uchoi.
Tripura has a rich cultural heritage of music, fine arts, handicrafts and dance. Music is an integral part of the tribal people of Tripura. Some of their indigenous instruments are the sarinda, chongpreng and sumui (a kind of flute). Songs are sung during religious occasions, marriages and other festivals. Agricultural festivals are integral to the culture of the state.
Dance is important to the tribal way of life. Dances are performed during Goria Puja. Hojagiri dance is performed by standing on a pitcher and is performed by the Reang clans. The Bihu dance is performed by the Chakmas during Chaitra Sankranti (the last day of the month of Chaitra).
Flora and fauna
The state is located in the bio-geographic zone of 9B-North-East Hills and possesses an extremely rich bio-diversity. The local flora and faunal components of Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese sub-regions. There are 379 species of trees, 320 shrubs, 581 herbs, 165 climbers, 16-climbing shrubs, 35 ferns and 45 epiphytes.
Wildlife sanctuaries of the state include Sipahijola Wildlife Sanctuary, Gumti Wildlife sanctuary, Roa Wildlife Sanctuary and Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary. National Park of India|National Park of the state include Clouded Leopard National Park, Sepahijola and Rajbari National Park, Trishna.
Society:
The indigenous Tripuri people comprises various hill tribal communities viz., Tipra, Reang, Jamatia, Kaipeng, Noatia, Koloi, Halam, etc. who migrated to this land in successive waves in the ancient past. They grew in isolation and were sometimes subjugated by one another. Each community had its own elementary social and administrative organization starting from the village level and up to the chieftainship of the whole tribe. The tribes enjoy their traditional freedom based on the concept of self-determination. The relation between the king and the subject tribes was as Maharaja (king) of Tripura-Missip or liaison officer Roy of Headman of the tribe - Sardar of chief of the village-the individual.
The Tripuri people have a rich historical, social and cultural heritage which is totally distinct from that of the mainland Indians, their distinctive culture as reflected in their dance, music, festivals, management of community affairs, dress and food habit has a strong base. Kokborok, the linguafranca of the twelve largest linguistic groups of the indigenous Tripuris and other dialects spoken in Trpura are of the Tibeto-Burman group as distinct from those spoken in India. There is no influence whatsoever of from those spoken by other peoples in the North-eastern region. The great music composer father-son duo of S.D.Burman & R.D.Burman belong to the Tripura royal family.
The main Tripuri tribes are:
Debbarma or Tipra , from which the royal family Debbarman ruled the kingdom.
Reang or Bru
Jamatia
Koloi
Noatia
Murasing
Halam
Uchoi
Language:-
The Tripuri people mainly speak various dialects of Kokborok, the standard dialect of the Debbarma tribe spoken around Agartala and the second official language of Tripura. There are estimated to be 1,000,000 speakers of the various dialects of Kokborok in Tripura, others being in Mizoram & Assam in India and Sylhet and Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.
