The Mishdi Chronicles

Tripura is a small state in the North East of India, mostly covered with hills and forests and widely known for its various ethnic tribes and their distinct culture. It is bordered by Bangladesh on three sides and by two Indian states of Mizoram and Assam to the East. Divided into eight districts, this little state in the far east got its name ‘Tripura’ from the goddess ‘Tripursundari’ or ‘Tripureshwari’, literally meaning the Goddess of three cities or three worlds.

One can speculate boundlessly what the three worlds are. She might represent the three worlds known as the sky, the earth and the ocean or she may assimilate within Her the three Gunas known as Satva (harmony), Rajas (passion or indulgence) and Tamas (ignorance), a dominant tenet of Indian philosophy. The three Gunas, originally explained in Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy are said to be present in all living beings.

The Goddess Tripureshwari can also be believed to represent the feminine power concealed within the Trinity which encompasses the distinct elements of creation, nurturing and destruction in the form of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.

In a nutshell, the goddess Tripurasundari is elemental to the power of three and the State adopted its name from the divinity that lies here.

Tripura is divided into eight districts and one of its northern districts called Unakoti, disguises a mystical valley of colossal faces which indeed is a wonder of India worth exploring. This place, incomparable with any other site in the world, defines its own beauty with its very own standards and parameters.

The site of Unakoti lies in a magnificent valley hidden in Raghunandan hills of Tripura in Kailashahar sub-division of Unakoti district, showcasing the humongous rock cut bas reliefs. Something to this magnitude is not seen or heard anywhere else in the world.

It takes about four hours from Agartala to the Unakoti Rock Carvings which is at a distance of about 140 km from the State capital.

When I travelled to this place a few years ago, the road was in a poor condition with long stretches of narrow roads and a lot of encroachments upon the road by the locals making it difficult to pick up speed. It took us more than six hours to reach Unakoti back then. Now the road to this historic place is repaired and broadened, thus reducing the travel time by at least two hours. On the way, one should not have high hopes of finding any good food joints or dhabas. In fact, except a few tea stalls, there isn’t much on this route that can offer a decent meal to the traveller. Luckily, we carried some packaged food with us from Agartala or the journey would have been even more difficult.

Unakoti is a site which hosts a multitude of rock-cut reliefs depicting the iconography from Shaivaite tradition. This is often compared with the Angkorwat temple of Cambodia and is referred as the Angkorwat of the North East India for the reason that the temple of Angkorwat also has large panels of brilliant bas-reliefs depicting stories from Ramayana and Puranas. It has a strong undertone of the culture and the way of life from the tribal communities of the region.

Camouflaged within the pristine hills of Tripura, this place had been hidden for centuries into an oblivion of unknown resulting in absolute neglect and lack of protection. It is also impossible to say with certainty who created these colossal pieces of art, carved out of huge boulders of rock with finesse and perfection, as no written historical accounts are available. The stories of Unakoti have travelled through the folklores, hearsay, mythology and mostly through the imagination of human mind.

These are huge figurines of Shiva, Shakti, Ganesha and Nandi and other deities, converting the entire place into a magnificent open art gallery and also delving into a unique experimentation in sculptural art techniques.

The literal meaning of Unakoti is one less than a crore. Thus it depicts a figure of 99,99,999. It is believed that this site had 99,99,999 sculptures once upon a time, however, a very few of them survive today. They are scattered in a very large area, therefore making the count of sculptures all the more difficult. The weathering and neglect of years have caused major destruction and loss of valuable art pieces here.

The name Unakoti has intrigued people who wonder why the sculptures are one less than a crore. While unearthing the mystery around it, the site drifted into a labyrinth of mythological stories, and one of them is quite popular in the region.

According to the most popular legend, Lord Shiva was once travelling to Kashi with an entourage of 99,99,999 gods and goddesses. They halted at Unakoti and Shiva asked his fellow travellers to wake up before sunrise and resume the journey. Apparently, none of them could wake up before the dawn except Shiva himself. This invited His ire and He set out alone for Kashi and cursed those who kept sleeping that they would turn into stones. The folklores believe that the sculptures here are those gods and goddesses and this is how the site got its name Unakoti, one less than a crore.

There are many more imaginary stories linked with this place which only further the mystery that revolves around Unakoti. The place has always been an enigma to people who live in the vicinity of the hills, as well as the historians who could not gather any authentic account of the origin and development of this extraordinary site.

Unakoti is deeply revered by the locals. They come here frequently and take bath in the little spring which is running almost throughout the year. The pilgrims worship the deities and offer them oblation. They get offended by any disrespect shown the deities or the site. In fact, each and every stone in the large landscape is considered sacred by the locals.

I was unaware of this ritualistic piety of this place and made a mistake which indeed offended the worshippers, who were bathing in the stream. I sat down on one of the smaller rocks with no iconography on it, considering it an ordinary stone, while posing for a picture. I quickly realised my blunder when people objected to it. Every stone in this hill is considered pious and revered with utmost devotion and that was the biggest realisation of the day.

Like many other sites in India, very little is known about the historical accounts of Unakoti. It is easily surmised that this humongous site with such colossal rock cut reliefs was not created in a day. It must have taken years, or perhaps centuries to gradually complete the carvings on the hillocks and rocks. It must also have cost money if the people were hired by the patrons since this kind of precise chiseling is no ordinary task and is beyond the ken of ordinary people. One wonders who those people were, tirelessly involved in this mammoth exercise of developing such a site in the midst of the wilderness with no habitation around.

However, there are certain folklores which believe that the figurines were carved in one night. One such story goes on to describe the vanity of celestial architect Vishwakarma who took up the challenge given by the gods to construct one crore figurines in one night and fell short by one and ended up creating 99,99,990 carvings.

It is quite difficult to weave the magnanimity of Unakoti within the narrow limits of one’s writing. I will not exaggerate if I say the site is far beyond the capability of the words. The sheer expanse of the carvings, the large number of the art pieces scattered all over the hills and the precision of the carvings, all will leave the visitor dumbfounded.

The discovery of Unakoti was nothing less than a precious lifetime experience one would cherish for rest of one’s life. The journey was arduous and painstaking, yet it fructified into a coveted experience enough to neutralise every element of tiredness in the traveller. The uniqueness of this place is such that it easily fits into any spectrum of life with ease, be it a sacred place of worship, a historical site, a monument, a natural abode full of tranquility or a secluded hideout away from the monotony of life. This was indeed an experience worth recording in the chronicles of my life.