Tripura History

History

Before joining India in 1949, Tripura (Twipra) was ruled for centuries by its own Hindu royal family (the Manikyas), based first at Udaipur, then Old Agartala (Kayerpur) and finally Agartala. In the 1880s Tripura’s maharajah became a major benefactor of Bengali renaissance poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore. Indian partition flooded Tripura with Bengali refugees leaving the local Borok-Tripuri people a minority in their own state. Resulting tensions saw dozens of armed groups fighting for – and against – the creation of an independent state.