Pilak - A symbol of Hindu-Buddhist cultural affinity

Nestled in Jolaibari, a small town of Tripura’s South District, Pilak, an 8th-12th century archaeological site, stand mute as an eloquent symbol of Hindu-Buddhist cultural affinity as much as the glorious cultural past of the State.

Stone engravings and statues of Shiva, Surya, Baishnabi and Mahishashurmardini stand alongside the statues of Lord Buddha in different places like Shyam Sundar Tilla, Deb Bari, Thakurani Tilla, Balir Pathar, Basudeb Bari and others in a three square kilometer site.

The dominant form and style of the rock-cut images and the sculptures in Pilak carried the influence of Palas and Guptas of Bengal, influence of the Arakan in Mynamer (formerly Burma) and local style, Jawahar Achariya, a historian and numismatist, said.

The number of rock-cut images and terracotta plaques lie scattered in various places of the area, which has been under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, speaking of the State’s past cultural glory.

“The moulded terracotta plaques bear resemblance with moulded plaques recovered from Paharpur and Mainamati in Bangladesh”, Achariya, who studied the history of the site, said.

Thaikhai Chowdhury, an official of the Information Department of Tripura and a Mog tribal said, “ There is a reference of Pilak as Pilakko in the stone inscriptions at Mruhang, the ancient capital of the old Arakan Kingdom in present Myanmar”.

He said that according to the folklore and oral history,there was close cultural link between ‘Pilakko” and Arakan via Chittagong Hill Tracts of Present Bnagladesh.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had taken over the site since 1999 and is now under protected under the provisions of the Government of India’s relevant Act of 1958.

A senior conservation assistant of the ASI, Narayan Chandra Debnath said, a new stupa was excavated at Sundari tilla.

Explaining the importance of the newly excavated site, Debnath says this is a full size Buddhist stupa built in 11th century on the pattern of architecture during the reign of ‘Palas of Bengal”.

Debnath who was in-charge of the Pilak site since 1999, said the stupa had been excavated under the supervision of ASI Superintendent, P Kumaran since Jan 1999 and completed in March 2006.

He pointed out that the stone image of meditating Buddha found in the sanctum of the stupa had “very close affinity to the tribal feature on the mouth”.

A top official of the state government said that government had plans to develop the site for Buddhist tourists of South-East Asia and other places and for this a project of Rs. 150 crore has been submitted to the centre.

The centre will seek financial assistance from the government of Japan, he said. The state government has already developed the site as a tourist spot by setting up a cafeteria and providing other facilities for visitors from outside.

Solar power lights up villages in Tripura

Perched on Killa hill, Tobakla, a remote tribal hamlet in Tripura's south district now shines in the dark with a non-conventional solar power plant supplying energy under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vaidyutikaran Yojana.
A septuagenarian, Bikram Singh Jamatiya is a delighted man today. ''My village is remote which can be approached only on foot. We lived in darkness at night. Now it is different," he told a group of visiting journalists.
"Earlier, we saw electric lights only when we went to Udaipur, the district town, which is about 25 km from the village," he said.
Bikram Singh is not alone. 62 tribal families of the village under Kochigang panchayat of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) are now beneficiaries of this non-conventional energy source.
The solar photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 10 Kilo Watt has been installed there at an investment of Rs.40 lakh.
''After sunset the village wore a ghostly look as the only sources of light were kerosene lanterns, but we have bid farewell to darkness,'' said Chandrasandha Jamatiya of the village.
The Science and Technology Department, the nodal agency for electrifying the remote villages with non-conventional energy, had initially granted only two bulbs for lighting each family's house.
But with the gaon panchayat approving a fan and a tv set, the department agreed to supply energy for a charge of Rs 10 per item, said Abhabananda Jamatiya, sarpanch of Kochigang Panchayat.
Tripura Power minister, Manik Dey said, "solar energy is being given to remote villages where conventional power is yet to reach. We want to electrify all villages in the state."
He said, the Left Front government was implementing the centrally sponsored 'Kuthir Jyoti programme'.Betweeb 1993 to 2007, electricity consumers increased to 3,54,500 under the programme of which 52,852 families were from rural poor and tribals. 50 per cent rural people were benefited by the programme, he said.

Unakoti - Ankor Vat of the Northeast?

Unakoti, it’s name meaning one less than a crore, dating back to the 8th or 9th century, is one of the biggest bas relief sculptures in India of gods and goddesses of Hindu mythology and scenes depicting the life of Lord Shiva.
Unakoti, is a 178 km drive from the state capital of Tripura nestled on the Raghunandan hills of Kailasahar subdivision of North Tripura district.
According to Hindu mythology, when Lord Shiva was proceeding to Kashi along with a crore of gods and goddesses he made a night halt at Unakoti.
Shiva instructed the gods and goddesses to wake up before dawn and proceed to Kashi.
In the morning when none except he got up, forcing him to set out for Kashi alone, Shiva cursed the gods and goddesses turned them to stone.
Therefore, ‘Unakoti’ acquired its name—one less than one crore.
According to the Archeological Survey of India, Unakoti dates back to the 8th or 9th century, if not earlier and is the biggest bas-relief sculpture in India.
“Unakoti is the Ankor vat of the Northeast, “said Panna Lal Roy, a scholar and self taught historian ,who extensively studied the archeological site.
“We can compare it with Ankor Vat, because we find an amalgamation of Hindu and Buddhist influences in the rockcut carvings though it is essentially a Hindu religious site with thousands of statues of Hindu god and goddesses”.
These sculptures include figures of Lord Shiva, Shri Ram, Hanuman and Ganapati.
The images are of two types – rock carved figures and stone images.
Among the rock cut carvings, there is a 30 feet high image of Lord Shiva in grey stone carved into the vertical rock face.
A small, rock strewn stream flows besides the figure of Shiva.
The central Shiva known as ‘Unokotiswara Kal Bhairava’ is about 30 feet high including a 10 feet high embroidered head dress.
On each side are two full size female figures—one of Goddess Durga standing astride a lion and another female figure.
There are also three ‘Nandi’ bulls half buried in the ground.
Just about fifty metres downstream, are three imposing images of Lord Ganesha.
There is a gigantic four- armed seated Ganesha and on its side two standing figures of Sarabhuja Ganesha with three tusks and the Ashtabhuja Ganesha with four tusks.
The central Shiva and the gigantic Ganesha are masterpieces.
Sources in the ASI said, some statues were still undiscovered in the jungles which needed to be preserved, while many were taken away by local people for worship at home.
There is talk of UNESCO declaring Unakoti as a world heritage site, the sources said.
There is another myth associated with this enchanting place, according to which Unakoti was the unfinished dream of a sculptor, who wished to make it a place of pilgrimage for a crore of deities.
His dream remained incomplete, as one image was short, thus it came to be kjnown as Unakoti.
Huge religious fairs are held here on Makar Sankranti and Ashokastami with thousands of people arriving and also taking holy dips in Kundas.
There is a tourist lodge in area. Tripura tourist corporation would soon announce some package tours to attract more tourists.

Woman footballer from back water to international field

Gulti Chowdhury, a girl of a remote Brahmacherra village in Tripura’s West district has made her village proud by acquiring a berth in the Indian women’s football team and representing the country twice.

Gulti, who happily joined the rough and tumble of playing football with boys in her teens is the sole woman international footballer of Tripura.
"I love to play football. So I played with boys, because girls did not play football in my village", she said

Born in a poor farmer’s family she was the youngest of five children she was brought up uncared, but had a dream of playing football for the country.

"My aim in life was to play football for country. So, I worked hard in the field and tried to play like a boy", she said.

Gulti was spotted as a footballer by Sunil Sarkar, Physical Instructor of Teliamura School in 1999 while playing an exhibition match at Khowai town.
“Ranjan sir selected me for his team New Millennium Soccer Club. This was turning point of my life", Gulti said.

Gulti played first time in Women Football Tournament at Agartala in 2000. Her daring foot work led to her being selected her as a member of Tripura team.

"When I got selection for state team, I set my target to represent our country. I was very confident of hitting the target”, the woman footballer said.
In 2005, Gulti was selected first time for Indian Junior team for Asian Women Football Tournament in Seoul, South Korea.

"I was delighted because it was my dream which came true. I can’t forget this moment of my life", Gulti added.

After two years, Gulti represented Indian Senior team for Asian Tournament in 2007. She Said. ‘I want to play for my country".

Vulture is extinct from Tripura

Agartala: Vulture which were seen in abundance in Tripura have now become extinct for about a decade due to scarcity of food, official sources said.

Deputy conservator of Forest, Prasenjit Biswas , who is also a famous ornithologist of the state said ,natures most effective cleaning machine has almost disappeared from the skyline of Tripura.

Biwas,who authored a book titled as The Last Flight of the Vulture said, “I have been watching birds for the last 20 years in the state, but, have not spotted a single vulture in last ten years.
Tripura had plenty of vultures earlier, he said adding many birds used to sit in the twigs of a tall tree near my house.

“The cause for disappearance of the feathered scavengers may be due to lack of food and human encroachment into their habitats,” he told

“Now they are not getting their natural foods because human bodies are hardly dumped in the open and animal carcasses are safely disposed off. This has deprived the vultures of their natural food”, he added.
Forest officials said not only in Tripura, the vulture population had declined by catastrophic 97 percent in the past decade throughout the world.

In Gujarat and Maharashtra, the domestic cattle’s are given a veterinary medicine-Declofena, along with diet. The vultures die when they consume the carcasses of such animals.

This fact came into light in 2001 when Gujarat and Maharashtra Government conducted a research , officials said.

However, Biswas said, Declofena is not used in Tripura, even as the vultures have disappeared from the skyline. He said , he is conducting further researches why vultures in the state faced extension.

The ornithologist said that due to consum on of carcasses effected by declofena, the shells of the eggs of vultures become thin and young birds die within the shell.

Large flocks of vultures used to be sighted on the vast Dammbur lake in South Tripura district as a good number of animal carcasses were available in the lake and adjacent deep forest .

The Sipahijala sanctuary in West Tripura district and Rudrasagar lake in Melaghar of the same district were the abodes of vultures, but no “Patient bird” is now sighted there.

Biswas said, Tripura Government had ventured for conservation breeding in Sipaheejala sanctuary two years ago, but adequate funds were not released by the Zoo Authority of India on the plea that one such project was launched at Pinjore at Haryana. Very recently, a pair of vulture was born at

Pinjore in captive breeding, Biswas said adding Royal Society for Protection of Birds have named those vultures as phoenix.