Architecture and History

 

 

• The former princely state of Tripura was ruled by Maharajas of Manikya dynasty.

 

• The history of Tripura can be identified two distinct periods—

 

• The legendary saga of the King Dharma complied by Brahmans in Bengali script called Rajamala.
• The period of the reign of Great King Dharma Manikya.

 

• During his era, Tripura gained power and control over many parts of Assam, Bengal and Burma in a series of remarkable military adventures.

 

 

• In the beginning of the 17th century, Mughal empire captured Tripura and regained control over the region for along time.

 

 

• British East India Company took over parts of Tripura with power exchange from the Mughals and in 1905 Tripura merged with the province of East Bengal and Assam and got the name of Hill Tripura.

 

 

• Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya ensured inclusion of Tripura in union states of India before his death in 1947.

 

 

• Tripura officially became part of India on October 15, 1949. it was made a union territory on September 1, 1956 and got the status of a state on January 21, 1972.

 

• In older days, people of Tripura used to live near the forest made of bamboos and wooden planks. 

 

• The houses in the state are built with light weight materials like bamboos, wooden planks, cane , cane leaves, mud, lime and thatch. These houses are commonly called Ikra House.

 

 

• Houses here are mostly single-storey structures made of brick or stone masonry walls erected above the plinth. This masonry forms the base for the walls made of bamboo woven together with a wooden frame, and plastered with cement or mud plaster.

 

 

• The bamboos and cane are available from the forests during winter season by local community which is used to construct in the dry season. The whole community contributes in the construction and they usually build houses in rectangular shapes.

 

• Though most of the houses are built with bamboo and Thatch for roofs. There are still some unique traditional type of houses in Tripura like,

 

Riang house:

 

• Riang tribes of Tripura build their houses made of bamboo using thatch for roofing. The architecture of the house has extensive use of bamboo and rectangular in shape.

 

 

Mudhouse:

 

• In Tripura, some of older houses are made of mud houses, bamboo for beam thatch and grass for roof. The mud house build in modern time are with mud and iron sheets roofing.

 

 

Tong Ghar:

 

• Tong Ghar walls are made of plain bamboos and the floor is made of ordered bamboos with plain bamboo roof and grass to cover to keep an organic nature of the housing material.

 

Tin house:

 

• Tin house walls are made of tin running from the roof to bottom, bamboos are used as supporting beam and for windows and framing.
• There are several well carved and strongly constructed Bamboo Bridges at many places in the state.

 

 

 

Demographic Location

 

 

 

• Tripura is one of the 7 sisterly states in the paradise-like North Eastern part of India.

 

• The entire state is divided into 8 districts. Agartala is the capital city of Tripura.

 

• There are some mighty rivers flowing and creating deep trenches and gorges thus making beautiful steep valleys. North-south-trending ranges separate the valleys.

 

• The Topography of the state is divided into 3 major landforms.

 

• Hill ranges
• Undulating Plateau Land
• Low-lying Alluvial Land

 

• Some of the more known rivers are : The Juri, Manu and Deo, Dhalai, and Khowai,

 

• Central and Northern Tripura is a hilly region crossed by four major valleys from East to West :

 

• The Dharmanagar
• The Kailashahar
• The Kamalpur
• The Khowai

 

• The state is rich in natural gas deposits, glass sands, limestone, plastic clay, and hard rock.

 

• The soil found in the state of Tripura is Reddish Yellow Brown Sandy soils,Red Loamy and Sandy Loamy soils, Older and Young Alluvial soils.

 

• This landfall is located under some rugged terrain with hilly and rocky surface cover prone to floods and landslides.

 

Season and Climate

 

 

 

• The State of Tripura experiences Humid Sub-tropical type of climate. This type of  climate brings a pleasant feel and strong breeze that blows almost throughout the year.

 

• The state shares 4 main seasons throughout the year.

 

• Winters : The climate is cool stretching from December to February
• Summers : The climate is pleasant with mix of sun and cool breeze
• Monsoon : The winds blow with lot of moisture
• Post Monsoon Season around November and early December

 

• Tripura falls in a region that has high scope of experiencing wings breeze and cyclones over the hills.

 

• The lands have huge collection of evergreen trees covering the forest land in the state. It is home for moist deciduous trees, sal trees, grasslands, swamps, etc.

 

• The rainfall increases from south-west to north-east. The north-eastern part of the state around Dharamnagar receives maximum rainfall in the state.

 

• Most of the rain falls during April-June and July to September. This period is also referred to as the Kharif season.

 

• The influencers for rainfall are the seasonal changes in the direction of wind and the presence of cool upper air current over some areas of the State. In the Kharif season, large depressions develop over at least one part of the State.

 

• Some of the types of forest types are as follows:

 

• Cane forest
• Garjan forest
• Grass land vegetation
• Savannah forest

 

• The forests in the state are mainly tropical evergreen, semi evergreen, and moist deciduous.

 

 

Culture and Education

 

 

• The state is the home of tribes such as  Jammatia and Reang tribes. The languages popularly spoken in Tripura are Mog, Manipuri, Bishnupuriya, Halam, Garo, Chakma, Kokborok, English and Bengali.

 

• In earlier days, people used to communicate in Thadou language. Unfortunately, people do not use this language any more.

 

• Tripura is known for its bamboo and cane handicrafts like making furniture, pen pots, baskets and idols.

 

• The people of Tripura boost of the beautiful symphony of local musical instruments like the Sarinda, Samui and chongpreng.

 

• Tripura tribes enjoy celebrating with some unique dance forms like Goria dance, Jhum dance and Bizhu dance. Bizhu Dance form is performed in the Bizhu festival.

 

• One of the largets known tribes of Tripura is The ReangReang tribe who perform a unique dance form known as Hojagiri dance.

 

• People here celebrate festivals like Durga puja, Kali puja with great energy and zest.

 

• Hinduism is practiced all over the state. Other religious groups belong to Islam, Christianity, Jainism and Buddhism.

 

• The literacy rate of Tripura 87.75%, making it the fourth most literate state in India.

 

• In Tripura, the state schools are run by the state government, Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), or private organizations.

 

• Residential schools here are run by Tripura Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS) and Jawahar Nvodya Vidyalaya, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas run by TTWREIS.

 

• The state education policy focuses on providing fundamental education to the youth.

 

• Central and State University of Tripura – Some of the prominent colleges and universities of Tripura are Central University of Tripura, MBB University, Indian Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India.

 

• Medical and Engineering Institutes of Tripura – It offers specialized education in medical sciences and engineering. Some of the renowned medical colleges in Tripura are Tripura Medical College and Agartala Government Medical College. Engineering institutes of the state are Tripura Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology Agartala, NIEILT Agartala.

 

• There are 3 polytechnic institutes in Tripura, 1 law Government Law College of Tripura. There are 3 nursing colleges.

 

• The state promotes specialization in music and culture as well. It is widely known as Government Music College.

 

• There has been a constant focus for the students of Tripura to be part of Sports like cricket and football.

 

• Men in Tripura wear a loose cloth that looks like a towel known as Rikutu Gamcha worn with a shirt known as Kubai.

 

• During the hot summer months, people put on a turban or pagri over their head to protect themselves from excessive heat and humidity.

 

• Khakloo tribal women wear a large piece of cloth called as Rinai. It is draped all across the waist till the knees.

 

• Women also wear a short size of cloth known as Risa. Risas are mostly designed with beautiful embroideries. Women also wear head dresses at the work.

 

• Women decorate themselves with strands and plethora of beads around their necks. They wear a blue cotton fabric as well that looks like petticoat or skirt.

 

• Women wear some extra clothing and beautiful jewelry in special occasions and festivals.

 

• In modern days, young boys and girls love to wear t-shirts, jeans, trousers, shirts and other outfits in western style.

 

 

 

 

 

Famous Spots

 

 

• There are several ancient archaeological sites in Tripura such as Unakoti, Pilak and Devtamura.

 

• Tripura Sundari temple: The name Tripura has evolved from the god of Tripura Sundari, one of 51 Shakthipeedas in India, the temple is located in Udaipur.
• Neermahal: Neermahal is the water palace near Agartala located in the heart of Rudra Sagar Lake.
• Ujjayanta Palace: With magnificent Mughal style architecture the white giant palace shines like a diamond between the pearls built by king Maharaja Radha Kishore Maniky.
• Jagannath temple: With unique octagonal architecture style, the Jagannath temple is located in Agartala.

 

Lakes :

 

• Dumboor Lake - located near Jatanbari. Water Sports and Migratory birds attract many viewers.
• Kalyan Sagar - located near Agartala. Very rare species of tortoise and many fish types are found in this lake water.
• Rudrasagar Lake - located near Melaghar also called Rudijala.

 

AquaLife, Flora and Fauna

 

 

 

• The land has rich fauna such as elephant, bear, binturong, wild dog, primates, cats, porcupine, sambar, wild boar, gaur, clouded leopard,  many species of small cats and primates and barking deer.

 

• The state is some forest covers that serve as preservation of wildlife sanctuaries in Tripura

 

• Gumti Wild life Sanctuary is an important Bird Sanctuary for Migratory Birds
• Rowa Wildlife Sanctuary
• Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary known for settlement of migratory birds
• Clouded Leopard National Park
• Rajbari National Park

 

 

• Like most of the Indian subcontinent, Tripura lies within the Indomalayan zone.

 

• Tripura hosts three different types of ecosystems:

 

• Mountain
• Forest 
• Freshwater

 

• The evergreen forest on the hill slopes and the sandy river banks are dominated by Dipterocarpus, Artocarpus, Amoora, Eugenia and Syzygium trees.

 

• Grasslands and Swamps are seen, specially in the plains. Herbaceous plants,  shrubs, and trees grow and flourish in the swamps of Tripura.

 

• Shrubs and grasses include shitalpati and sugarcane.

 

• Pisciculture is one of the emerging fields in the state. Tripura has contributed to the production of fish, seeds, sal, garjan, teak, gamar, etc.