1st Valentine’s Day post-wedding

First year after wedding is a special year not only for me….for all newly wed couples. To celebrate the day dedicated to love I, Manab, his friend and friend’s soon to be wife headed to the southern part of Tripura.

Our first stop was at Tripurasundari temple or Tripureswari temple (Matabari) located at Udaipur 55 kms from Agartala. The temple was built by King Dhanya Manikya in 1501. The temple is more than 500 years old and shrouded with myth and mystries.

It is said that Devi Sati burnt herself as she could not bear the insult of Lord Shiva by her father. Her husband Lord Shiva got very furious and started “tandav”. Whole universe was at danger. All Gods and Goddesses prayed Lord Vishnu to save the creatures. Lord Vishnu with his “Sudarshan Chakra” cut the dead body of Sati into 51 pieces. Then Lord Shiva was calmed. These 51 pieces fell on 51 places and they became “Shakti Peeth”. It is believed that Devi Sati’s “right leg” fell here at Tripureswari temple.

We prayed to Mata Tripura sundari, strolled around the temple campus. The lake “Kalyan Sagar” has many big tortoises and the lake is full of fish which are considered sacred. People offer food to the lake inhabitants.

Then we went to one of the historically important and beautiful yet under-rated temple – Bhubaneswari temple. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s renowned drama “Bisharjan” is based on the “animal sacrifice at this temple and a child’s emotions”. The temple was built by Maharaja Govinda Manikya in 17th century and is situated by the bank of River Gomati. Near to the temple one narrow way goes down which should lead to the “stairs” as mentioned in “Bisharjan”. But we were told by the local people that stairs are all vanished due to flowing river. Now worship is performed at one newly constructed temple near to this old temple. But the architecture of original temple is still breathtaking. The temple is of “stupa-style” which is like some other temples of Udaipur like Shiv Bari, Matabari temple.

Very near to this temple there are ruins of old palace. On our Valentine’s Day tour we found renovation works were going on. Later during our successive visit to this place we found that renovation was completed and the palace is “not-to-be-missed-out”.

We started for Neermahal after getting soaked in the history of “King of kindness” Maharaja Govinda Manikya. Neermahal – literally means “water palace”. The palace is of white color situated on “Rudrasagar” built by King of Tripura “Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya”. It is located at Melaghar (around 53 kms from Agartala).

When we went there water level was very less which saddened me as presence of water surrounding the palace is it’s uniqueness. We reached the palace by motor-driven boat. Roamed around the palace. In the center of the palace there is a small garden.