Set in the Raghunandan hills of North Tripura with ancient rock cravings of gods and goddesses is the prime tourist spot of the district in Kailasahar sub-division — Unakoti, which means one less than one crore in Bengali. Often compared to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Unakoti is called the ‘Angkor of North-East’.
The hilly area boasts of 99 lakh gods and goddesses bas-relief sculptures of the 8th and 9th century, which, experts say, date back to the pre-Vedic era.
Around 170 km from Agartala, the rock-cut art is vying for a UNESCO World Heritage site tag.
THE LEGEND: SHIVA’S CURSE
The Hindu mythology story behind the sculptures goes like this.
On their way to Kashi, Lord Shiva, along with other gods and goddesses, asked all of them to take rest in the hills and wake up the next day before sunrise.
Legend has it that the next day when Shiva woke up, he found other gods and goddesses sleeping. Angry, he cursed them and turned all of them into stone. The gods numbered one less than one crore, hence the name ‘Unakoti’, say locals.
WHERE THE GODS RESIDE IN THE HILLS: WITH THE ASI
Speaking to News18, Biswajit Deb, Assistant Director, Information Department, said, “The spot has now been taken over by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) as a heritage site. The source of these sculptures is a mystery. There are two types of carvings – rock-carved and stone. The work on the stones that are lying around is different from the engravings on the hills. From Shiva to Parvati to Vishnu Charan and Ganesha, all gods are here. It is our heritage.”
The central Shiva head, known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava, is about 30 feet high, including an embroidered head-dress which itself is 10 feet high. On each side of the head-dress of the central Shiva, there are two full-size female figures – one of Durga standing on a lion and another female figure on the other side.
In addition, three enormous images of Nandi Bull are found half-buried in the ground. There are various other stone and rock-cut images at Unakoti.
“We do pujo everyday here. I was born here, and we feel the presence of gods and goddesses here. People also collect holy water from this region,” said Shyamal DebBurma, the local priest.
‘NOT PROMOTED WELL’
Locals believe the unique beauty of this area has not been promoted well. It was also the hub of smugglers during the insurgency period. Some say a few sculptures, too, are missing from the region.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunit Sarkar told News18: “This is Devbhumi. The earlier government ignored it, but now we are putting emphasis on it. The ASI will take good care of it.”