Agartala City Guide

Agartala, the state capital, is connected by road with Guwahati via Shillong by National Highway No. 44. It takes about 24 hrs. by road from Guwahati to reach Agartala. There are flight connections with Kolkata and Guwahati. Ujjayanta Palace is a modern building of the royal house of Tripura and is located in the heart of Agartala, sprawling over a half sq.kms. This two storeyed mansion has a mixed architecture with three high domes (the centre one being 86' high). The magnificiant tiled floor, carved wooden ceiling and beautifully carfted doors are particularly noteable. The palace was built by Radha Kishore Manikya in 1990. Its well laid out gardens have two large tanks on either side of and the fountains are laid out in the patterns of the Mughal gardens. The palace is floodlit at night.

Kunjaban Palace, situated 1km. Ahead on a hillock was constructed in 1917 and named as Pushbanta Palace by the then ruler, Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya. It is said that the known poet Rabinder Nath Tagore stayed in the eastern apartment of this palace. The southern side is now open to public and is known as Rabinder Kanan. While the rest of the palace is now the official residence of the governor of the state.

Neermahal a summer resort built in 1930 by the late Maharaja Birbikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur is about 55 kms away from Agaratala. It is built in the middle of a lake called Rudrasagar with a total area of about 5.35 sq.km away from Agartala. It is the only lake palace in Eastern India.

Half of the palace is an open garden used as an open-air theatre and the other half on the western side is called the Ander Mahal, used by the royality. It had 15 rooms and was approched by boat from the Rajghat towards two sets of steps, one for the Maharaja and one for the Maharani. Flood lighting has been used to illuminate the place. The state Govt. has plans to add a sound & Light show and introduce water sports to add to the facilities of their tourist resort on the banks of the rudrasagar.

Tripura is huge and have been carved on open vertical walls at Unakoti, Debtamura and Pilak. Unakoti is about 178 kms from agaratala, 8kms from Kaliashahar. The name Unakoti, means one less than a crore and legand. It is a Shiva piligrimage site dating back to the 8th or 9th century. The central Shiva carving known as the Unakotiswara kal Bhairava is about 30 feet high, its head dress is 10 feet in height. Every year a big festival known as Ashokastami Mela is held in the month of April.

Debtamura, 75kms from Agartala, is situated in the banks of the river Gomati, between Udaipur and Amapur. The rocks on the banks of the river are also called Chabimura and are images of Shiva, Vinshu, Kartik, Mahisasur, mardini Durga and other deities. The imges data back to the 15th and 16th century. Pilak 100 kms away from Agartala towards the southern end of tripura is also said to be of the 8th and 9th century, where within an area of about 10 sq.kms carvings were found mostly in stone and in terracotta plaques. Coloursal stone images of Avalokiteswar and narashima have also been found here. Excavations are continuing at these sites.

Mata tripureshawari Temple at Udaipur located about 58kms from Agartala and 3kms from Udaipur, is considered one among the 51Pithasthans of India according to Hindu mythology.

The fourteen Goddess Temple is situated about 14kms from Agartala at a place which is known as the old Agaratala because the capital was temporarily shifted to to the place while Maharaja Krishna Manikya was at war for a long time with Shamser Gazi. Here during the month of July every year and visited thousands of piligrims.

Bhuveneshwari Temple on the right banks of the Gomati River was built by Maharaja Krishan Manikya was at war for a long time with Shameser Gazi. Dumboor is a famous spot, located 110kms away from Agartala in the midst of picturesques hills. The lake has an area of 41 sq. Kms with 48 islands within. Tirthamukh is the name given to the hydel project at the mouth of the river Gomati where the pious Sankranti Mela takes place in January every year.