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               TRIPURA TRAVEL GUIDE

Tripura is a state in North-East India. Tripura is surrounded by Bangladesh on the
north, south and west. The Indian states of Assam and Mizoram lie to the east. The
capital is Agartala and the main languages spoken are Bengali and Kokborok (also
known as Tripuri). It was formerly an independent Tripuri kingdom  and was merged
with independent India on 15 October 1949 by the Tripura Merger Agreement. It was
also known as Hill Tippera (anglicized version of Tipra) during the British India
period  and has a glorious history of over 2500 years and 186 Kings.

The origin of the word Tripura is attributed to the legendary tyrant king of Tripura,
Tripur. According to legend, Tripur was the 39th descendant of Druhya, who was a
descendant of Yayati, one of the lunar race kings. He was so powerful that he
ordered his subjects not to worship him as the sole God. People fled to escape his
tyranny to the nearby state of Hiramba (Cachar).

Tripura finds mention in the Mahabharata, the Puranas and pillar inscriptions of
Emperor Ashoka. Tripura was a princely state before its merger with the Indian
Union. The Tripuri Kings (Habugra) held the title of Manikya and ruled Tripura for
3000 years until its merger. Udaipur, in South Tripura district, was the capital of the
Kingdom. The capital was shifted to Old Agartala by King Krishna Manikya in the
eighteenth century, and then to the present Agartala in the 19th Century. The 19th
century marked the beginning of Tripura's modern era, when King Bir Chandra
Manikya Bahadur Debbarma modeled his administration on the pattern of British
India and enacted various reforms.

The Ganamukti Parishad movement led to the integration of the kingdom with India
in 1949. Tripura was heavily affected by the partition of India and the majority of the
population now comprises Hindu Bengalis, many of whom came as refugees from
East Pakistan after independence in 1947. Tripura became a centrally administered
Union Territory on July 1, 1963 and attained the status of a full-fledged state on
January 21, 1972.

Armed conflict in Tripura has been a problem since the end of the 1970s as an
aftermath of 1971 Indo-Pak war. Mass migration of Bengalis from Bangladesh
during this time has resulted in wide-spread insurgency and militancy in the state
with groups such as the Tripura National Volunteers, the National Liberation Front of
Tripura and the All Tripura Tiger Force aiming to drive away the Bengali people.


GENERAL INFORMATION


Time zone         IST (UTC+5:30)
Area                   10,492 kmē (4,051 sq mi)
Capital               Agartala
Largest city        Agartala
District(s)           4
Population         3,191,168 (21st)
Density               304/kmē (787/sq mi)
Language(s)     Bengali, Kokborok (Tripuri)