Twipra Kingdom

Last updated

Kingdom of Tripura
c. 1400–15 October 1949
Coat of Arms of Tripura Princely State.gif
Coat of arms
Location of the Tripura kingdom and neighbouring South Asian polities circa 1500 CE. [1]
Statushistorical kingdom
Capital Udaipur
Agartala
Common languages Kokborok
Bengali
Religion
Hinduism
Government Hereditary monarchy
History 
 Established by Maha Manikya
c. 1400
c. 1460
15 October 1949
Succeeded by
Tripura (princely state) Blank.png
Today part ofFlag of India.svg  India
Flag of Bangladesh.svg  Bangladesh
Flag of Myanmar.svg  Myanmar
Kingdom of Tripura
Part of History of Tripura
Maha Manikya c.1400–1431
Dharma Manikya I 1431–1462
Ratna Manikya I 1462–1487
Pratap Manikya 1487
Vijaya Manikya I 1488
Mukut Manikya 1489
Dhanya Manikya 1490–1515
Dhwaja Manikya 1515–1520
Deva Manikya 1520–1530
Indra Manikya I 1530–1532
Vijaya Manikya II 1532–1563
Ananta Manikya 1563–1567
Udai Manikya I 1567–1573
Joy Manikya I 1573–1577
Amar Manikya 1577–1585
Rajdhar Manikya I 1586–1600
Ishwar Manikya 1600
Yashodhar Manikya 1600–1623
Interregnum1623–1626
Kalyan Manikya 1626–1660
Govinda Manikya 1660–1661
Chhatra Manikya 1661–1667
Govinda Manikya 1661–1673
Rama Manikya 1673–1685
Ratna Manikya II 1685–1693
Narendra Manikya 1693–1695
Ratna Manikya II 1695–1712
Mahendra Manikya 1712–1714
Dharma Manikya II 1714–1725
Jagat Manikya 1725–1729
Dharma Manikya II 1729
Mukunda Manikya 1729–1739
Joy Manikya II c.1739–1744
Indra Manikya II c.1744–1746
Udai Manikya II c.1744
Joy Manikya II 1746
Vijaya Manikya III 1746–1748
Lakshman Manikya 1740s/1750s
Interregnum1750s–1760
Krishna Manikya 1760–1783
Rajdhar Manikya II 1785–1806
Rama Ganga Manikya 1806–1809
Durga Manikya 1809–1813
Rama Ganga Manikya 1813–1826
Kashi Chandra Manikya 1826–1829
Krishna Kishore Manikya 1829–1849
Ishan Chandra Manikya 1849–1862
Bir Chandra Manikya 1862–1896
Birendra Kishore Manikya 1909–1923
Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya 1923–1947
Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya 1947–1949
1949–1978 (titular)
Kirit Pradyot Manikya 1978–present (titular)
Tripura monarchy data
Manikya dynasty (Royal family)
Agartala (Capital of the kingdom)
Ujjayanta Palace (Royal residence)
Pushbanta Palace (Royal residence)
Neermahal (Royal residence)
Rajmala (Royal chronicle)
Tripura Buranji (Chronicle)
Chaturdasa Devata (Family deities)

The Twipra Kingdom (Sanskrit: Tripura , Anglicized: Tippera ) was one of the largest historical kingdoms of the Tripuri people in Northeast India.

Contents

Geography

The present political areas which were part of the Twipra Kingdom are:

The Twipra Kingdom in all its various ages comprised the areas with the borders:

  1. The Khasi Hills in the North
  2. The Manipur Hills in the North-East
  3. The Arakan Hills of Burma in the East
  4. The Bay of Bengal to the South
  5. The Brahmaputra River to the West

Legend

A list of legendary Tripuri kings is given in the Rajmala chronicle, a 15th-century chronicle in Bengali written by the court pandits of Dharma Manikya I (r. 1431). The chronicle traces the king's ancestry to the mythological Lunar Dynasty. Druhyu, the son of Yayati, became king of the land of Kirata and constructed a city named Trivega on the bank of Kapila river. His kingdom was bounded by the river Tairang on the north, Acaranga on the south, Mekhali on the east, Koch and Vanga on the west. [3] The daughter of the King of Hedamba was married to King Trilochona of Trivega. The King of Hedamba, having no heir, made the eldest son of Trilochona the king of his land. [4] After the death of Trilochona, his second son Daksina became King of Tripura. Daksina shared the wealth of the kingdom among his eleven brothers. [5] Being the eldest son of Trilochona, the King of Hedamba demanded his kingdom from his brothers. In denial, the enraged King of Hedamba attacked Tripura and destroyed the capital. The eleven brothers left Trivega and moved to Khalangma on the bank of river Varavakra and found the capital Khalangma. [6] In the 8th century, the kingdom shifted its capital eastwards along the Surma river in Sylhet, near the present-day town of Kailasahar in northern Tripura.[ citation needed ]

The religion of the Tipra had 14 deities known as Chaturdasa Devata and is still preserved in the Chaturdasha Temple in Agartala, which is maintained by the Tipra priests known as Chantais, who oversee the festivals of the Kharchi and Ker according to traditions.

History

Chinese chronicles

Twipra is mentioned in Ming Shilu as Di-wu-la. By the early 15th century, its territory was occupied by Da Gu-la, an unidentified state. [7]

Cheitharol Kumbaba

In Cheitharol Kumbaba chronicles of Manipur, Tripura is referred to as Takhen. [8]

Islamic-invasions era

Bir Chandra Manikya of Manikya dynasty Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya.jpg

The earliest historical records concerning the Twipra kingdom appears in the 15th century, when it first came under pressure from the Islamic invaders. This is also the time of origin of the Manikya Dynasty, when Chhengthung Fa adopted the title Manikya, becoming Maha Manikya, with the cognomen being held by all Kings of Tripura until the death of Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya in 1947. [9] Under Ratna Manikya I, the capital shifted to Rangamati on the banks of the river Gumti, now in South Tripura.

Tripura was one of the states that pushed back successive waves of invasions from Turks, Afghans, and Mughals. On many occasions, Tripuris (Tiprasa) also pushed back Burmese and Arakanese invasions from the East. At its height it comprised what is now Tripura, Sylhet division of Bangladesh, Cachar region of Assam state and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of what is now Bangladesh, and even managed to remain free and independent before the British takeover.

Ujjayanta Palace served as the royal seat of Twipra Kingdom from 1901. Tripura State Museum Agartala Tripura India.jpg
Ujjayanta Palace served as the royal seat of Twipra Kingdom from 1901.

The plains of Tripura, however, fell to the attacks from Mughals. The plains territories comprise today's South-East Dhaka and Comilla areas. While the plains areas were thus Islamized, the Hills of Tripura served as a continuous bulwark against penetration to the East. The Tripura Hill Kings were major sponsors of Hindu traditions and customs. In the modern age, they are remembered as one of the longest and most stable dynasties from the Indian East.

Dhanya Manikya (reigned 1463 to 1515) expanded Twipra's territorial domain well into Eastern Bengal. Rangamati was renamed Udaipur after Udai Manikya. The kingdom flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries with kings such as Govinda Manikya putting up a strong defence against the pressure of the Muslim kingdoms to the west. However, the plains areas fell away from Tripura state due to the actions of a renegade Tripuri prince who was backed by Mughal governors of Eastern Bengal plains. After this, plains Twipra became a separate Mughal client kingdom, with the Mughal rulers exerting influence on the appointment of its kings. However, the Mughals could never penetrate the Hills territories to the east.

British India

Coinage of Rajadhara Manikya (1586-1599 CE), king of Tripura. Tripura. Rajdhara Manikya 1586-1599 CE (AV).jpg
Coinage of Rajadhara Manikya (1586-1599 CE), king of Tripura.

The princely state of Tripura existed outside British India, in a subsidiary alliance with it, and was a self-governing area known as Hill Tippera, the present-day state of Tripura. However, the kings retained an estate known as Tippera district of the British Bengal Presidency or Chakla Roshanbad, which after the partition of India became part of the greater Comilla region of Bangladesh.

Bir Chandra Manikya (1862–1896) modelled his administration on the pattern of British India, and enacted reforms including the formation of Agartala Municipal Corporation. The last king was Kirit Bikram Kishore, son of Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarma, who ruled for two years, 1947–1949. In 1949, Tripura became part of the Republic of India. The Tripuri "heir apparent" is Kirat Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma (born 1978), the son of the last king, who is sometimes given the courtesy title of "Maharaja".

See also

Notes

  1. Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 147. ISBN   0226742210.
  2. In 1562, Chilarai attacked the kingdom and took possession of the Barak Valley in which the state of Khaspur was established as a dewani of the Koch kingdom). ( Bhattacharjee 1994 :71) In the 18th-century, a Kachari king annexed the Hailakandi valley. ( Bhattacharjee 1994 :72)
  3. "Druhyu, the son of Sarmistha, the daughter of Vrsaparvan, became king of the Kirata Land... Druhyu constructed a city in the Trikvega region. His capital was situated on the bank of the River Kapila."( Nath 2020 :15)
  4. ( Nath 2020 :32)
  5. ( Nath 2020 :32)
  6. ( Nath 2020 :39)
  7. "The MSL records that the territory of this polity was in the early 15th century occupied by Da Gu-la (Tai-zong 269.3a-b), which suggests an area near Assam, There seems little doubt that it refers to Tripura, which lies south of the Brahmaputra and north of Bengal"( Wade 1994 :253)
  8. Parratt, Saroj Nalini Arambam (2005). The Court Chronicle of the Kings of Manipur : the Cheitharon Kumpapa : Original Text, Translation, and Notes. London: Routledge. p. 183. ISBN   0-415-34430-1.
  9. ( Boland-Crewe & Lea 2005 , p. 238)

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References

Further reading

Online Books and material