Twipra Kingdom

Twipra Kingdom (Sanskrit: Tripura, Anglicized: Tippera) was one of the largest historical kingdoms of the Twipra people in the North-east India.

Kingdom of Tripura
Part of History of Tripura
Maha Manikyac. 1400–1431
Dharma Manikya I1431–1462
Ratna Manikya I1462–1487
Pratap Manikya1487
Vijaya Manikya I1488
Mukut Manikya1489
Dhanya Manikya1490–1515
Dhwaja Manikya1515–1520
Deva Manikya1520–1530
Indra Manikya I1530–1532
Vijaya Manikya II1532–1563
Ananta Manikya1563–1567
Udai Manikya1567–1573
Joy Manikya I1573–1577
Amar Manikya1577–1585
Rajdhar Manikya I1586–1600
Ishwar Manikya1600
Yashodhar Manikya1600–1623
Interregnum1623–1626
Kalyan Manikya1626–1660
Govinda Manikya1660–1661
Chhatra Manikya1661–1667
Govinda Manikya1661–1673
Rama Manikya1673–1685
Ratna Manikya II1685–1693
Narendra Manikya1693–1695
Ratna Manikya II1695–1712
Mahendra Manikya1712–1714
Dharma Manikya II1714–1725
Jagat Manikya1725–1729
Dharma Manikya II1729
Mukunda Manikya1729–1739
Joy Manikya II1739–1744
Indra Manikya II1744–1746
Vijaya Manikya III1746–1748
Lakshman Manikya1740s/1750s
Interregnum1750s–1760
Krishna Manikya1760–1783
Rajdhar Manikya II1785–1806
Rama Ganga Manikya1806–1809
Durga Manikya1809–1813
Rama Ganga Manikya1813–1826
Kashi Chandra Manikya1826–1829
Krishna Kishore Manikya1829–1849
Ishan Chandra Manikya1849–1862
Bir Chandra Manikya1862–1896
Radha Kishore Manikya1896–1909
Birendra Kishore Manikya1909–1923
Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya1947–1949
1949–1978 (titular)
Kirit Pradyot Manikya1978–present (titular)
Tripura monarchy data
Manikya dynasty (Royal family)
Agartala (Capital of the kingdom)
Ujjayanta Palace (Royal residence)
Neermahal (Royal residence)
Rajmala (Royal chronicle)
Tripura Buranji (Chronicle)
Chaturdasa Devata (Family deities)

The Twipra Kingdom was established around the confluence of the Brahmaputra river (Twima) with the Meghna and Surma rivers in today's Central Bangladesh area. The capital was called Khorongma (Kholongma) and was along the Meghna river in the Sylhet Division of present-day Bangladesh.

Geography

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

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

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

History

Early history

A list of legendary Tripuri kings is given in the Rajmala chronicle, a 15th-century chronicle in Bengali verse written by the court pandits of Dharma Manikya I (r. 1431). The chronicle traces the king's ancestry to the mythological Lunar Dynasty. In the 8th century, the Kingdom shifted its capital eastwards along the Surma river in Sylhet near present Kailasahar town of North Tripura.

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 Chantai's, who oversee the festivals of the Kharchi and Ker according to traditions.

Islamic-invasions era

The earliest historical records concerning the Twipra kingdom concern the 15th century, when it first came under pressure from the Islamic conquests in India. This is also the time of origin of the Manikya Dynasty, started 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.[2] 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, Ethiopian Muslims, 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, entire Mizoram state, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts of what is now Bangladesh, and even managed to remained free and independent before the British takeover.

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 (r. 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
Main article: Tripura (princely state)

In British India, the kings retained an estate in British India, known as Tippera district or Chakla Roshnabad (now the greater Comilla region of Bangladesh), in addition to the independent area known as Hill Tippera, the present-day state of Tripura. 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".

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See also

Notes
  1. 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)
  2. (Boland-Crewe & Lea 2005, p. 238)

References
  • Bhattacharjee, J B (1994), "Pre-colonial Political Structure of Barak Valley", in Sangma, Milton S (ed.), Essays on North-east India: Presented in Memory of Professor V. Venkata Rao, New Delhi: Indus Publishing Company, pp. 61–85
  • Boland-Crewe, Tara; Lea, David (2005) [2002]. The Territories and States of India. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-35625-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Tripura Buranji 17th Century Ahom Chronicle.
  • Progressive Tripura, 1930
  • Rajmala, royal chronicle of Tripura Kings.
  • Hill Tippera – History The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909, v. 13, p. 118.

Further reading
Online Books and material
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