North-east saga part 2 - unakoti - etched into history still a mystery

Talking with historians on another possible location for shoot I hear the mention of a very mythical site called unakoti. About 200kms from the state capital of Agartala, deep in the mountains is the site of unakoti. The mysticism of the site is strongly beckoning with each mention of the site. Each person has something to add to the site and each on totally different from the other. One site with so many tales it can't be true.

The route to unakoti takes you through not one but two wildlife sanctuaries, crossing over a dozen military, BSF and CRPF camps, it does make you wonder where am I going to. Today you are allowed to travel freely between 8am and 7pm, but there was a time not too long ago when you had to go in convoys and what is today 5 hour journey was then a days journey provided you timed your travel right. The threats of extremists were high, animals too had their share of terrorism... All this made unakoti earlier a distant dream for many.

The nearest town to unakoti is Kailashar, a town on the very border of India and Bangladesh. Unakoti is situated about 8kms into a thick forest previously trekked but now cleared and with roads laid out till the site. 

First impressions were wow. You stand there bathed in awe as you take in the sheer size of the site and statues. You think Mount Rushmore is amazing well we had this in the 9th century! Unakoti is the biggest bas-relief sculpture in Asia and it's supposedly to spread over a 10km radius. That's what's remaining of it after centuries of earthquakes, plundering and natural calamities.

Who built it, what's are these huge carving doing in the middle of nowhere? Well like you are thinking right now so are the historians. The only answers they are able to come up with are based on the style of the sculptures. The sculptures have a very Buddhist touch to it with longish ears and then there is the mongoloid eyes distinct to the region. The conclusion to that is that  over time when people, tribes from south east Asia were migrating to new grounds they were initially worshippers of nature. The trees, animals, the celestial objects... These slowly turned to figurines, the Indus Valley civilisations show the worship of the bull and also shiva. Shivism slowly became an accepted religion and the idols of shiva increased. Shiva is a god revered by the tribes as they believe he came up from similar roots. Study of shiva and his origins will lends some light to it. The tribes slowly took to shiva and hence the presence of his image throughout the valley. 

Shiva has three forms, out of which the phallic form is the most worshipped, in unakoti it's the anthropomorphic form that was worshipped. 

Well as in everything indian nothing is complete with just facts and findings. Mysticism play a great role and myths have their place in our history just as anything else. The most popular of myths is that lord shiva and a crore of other gods were travelling from Kailash to Varanasi and en route decided to stop at unakoti for the night. The deal was that all would wake up before dawn and resume journey. As the day dawned only shiva got up and resumed journey. He got angry and cursed the rest to turn into stone. Out of the whole crore of gods just one person less - shiva. Hence the name unakoti - One less than a crore.    

If that is to be believed then how is there so many images of shiva???

The second most important legend is that of kallu Kumar. A sculptor extraordinaire who did sculpt image one less that a crore and the final one he wanted to make of himself which angered the gods and he was struck down and turned to stone.

Another off-shoot of the kallu Kumar story is that he was an ardent shiva fan and Parvathi was so impressed with him that she wanted Shiva to turn kallu Kumar immortal. Shiva apprehensive agreed to do so if the sculptor could carve a crore images in Unakoti before the sunrise and the cock crows! Kallu Kumar gets to work and is almost in sight of winning with just one more sculpture when Shiva induces the cock to crow before the usual time and hence leading to Kallu Kumar to loose the bet. 

Unakoti with its stories and mysticism and beauty will remain with you long after you have returned, still urging you to ponder on the wonders of an age gone by...

The north east saga - part 1 - Tripura, a worthwhile past

Ever since my first visit to the northeastern state of Assam and Meghalaya, I have always had that fondness of travelling back there. The second visit provided itself in one of my closest friends birthday but that was a day only. It was not enough, it was just a hop-in hop-out trip.

Well as the saying goes if it's happened twice then definitely it will happen a third time. 

True enough I did get to travel to the northeast again. Although the trip was scheduled for just ten days and meant to be a recce, it soon turned out to be a trip in actual search of places, people and stories.

Gleefully excited at the fact I am going to the north east I even gave up the chance of the Andamans which was the others place in the offering. Many a friend has suggested I go to the Andamans as the scenic beauty is second to none, but my heart just wanted to go to the Northeast. 

The travel day started pretty early and by mid noon I was in the state of Tripura. First impressions of the state and I was baffled as I travelled by auto from the station to the hotel about 15kms away. All or most of the shops were closed. The northeast know for its political instability has many a traveller worried and I was no exception. Upon enquiring my auto driver says that they are shut because the owners are taking a siesta. Whew. Thankfully it wasn't a Hartal or a bandh. The same scene welcomed me when I reached the city and found shops shut. 

I meet up with a few people in the university, historians and enquire about the neer mahal palace in udaipur, Tripura. Yes it's not a typo, neer mahal palace, udaipur. The basic information on the palace is that the maharaja of Tripura was very fond of travelling and was impressed with the neer mahal palace in udaipur Rajasthan that he returned back and commissioned a British company to build him one on a lake in a city he renamed udaipur. The eccentricities of our maharajas!

The next day I travel to see the neer mahal palace and it sure must have been magnificent in its hey day but today lies in neglect and due to global warming the water levels are low. Still u get there by boat and on entry you truly feel like royalty. The white painted walls of the palace glimmers in the sun and gives you the effect of marble the wide arch ways welcomes you to a place once meant only for the king and his guests. 

What was once an opulent resort or vacation spot for the king today lies in ruins and desperate for care. The palace is being renovated by a South Indian company and hence was able to strike up a conversation with the engineer and learn more about the palace. This conversation also gave me a chance to see the cordoned off portion of the palaces royal quarters. The ball room for the king, the ball room for the queen, the royal entry, the royal rooms, the gardens, the servants quarters and also the royal bathroom. The palace was built in the early 20th century afforded the British architect to put in European style bathrooms with marble and inlays of precious stones.

Today all this is in ruins and the engineer responsible for the restoration explained the technology involved to make the palace earthquake proof. Being a water palace the existence of water is vital for the existence of the palace. The reason being the pressure exerted by the water and the pressure exerted by the building join together in being key factors for the building to remain as is. The absence of one pressure is enough to collapse.

Parts of the palace have already collapsed and efforts are being made for restricting further damage by modern technology. The kind of technology used then still amazes me. Every place I visit I always wonder the same question aloud, how? We today find it difficult to make buildings stay intact for 5 years and that too using too many machineries and advanced materials, while the old had just people and stones and the buildings last for ever!

Well I do hope that they are able to implement all the changes proposed and on my next trip to Tripura I am able to fully understand and appreciate the true workmanship and opulence of the erstwhile maharajas of India.