History

The history of the place starts from the days of the great epic Mahabharata. It was ruled by the Manikya dynasty from the 14th century. The Manikyas, who supposedly belonged to the Indo-Mongolian group, ruled over this area independently even at the time when most parts of the Indian subcontinent were under British rule. The rulers of the state had a good relation with the British during that time and the later helped Tripura to protect itself from the Nawabs of Bengal to take over the state. After the independence of India, an agreement to merge Tripura with the Indian Union was signed by the Regent Maharani on September 9, 1947. This state became a union territory of the country without legislature from November 1, 1956 and a ministry was formed on July 1, 1963. On January 21, 1972, Tripura got its statehood. Accessing Tripura was difficult until when Maharaja Bir Bikram made an airport in Agartala. Rabindranath Tagore is said to have had a very deep touch with this state. The two famous novels by the Nobel laureate, namely, the Visarjan and Rajasri were based on the legends of the Manikyas.