UNAKOTI a place of tour
by Sadananda
The name of the place
is Unakoti. Unakoti means less than one million. So many statues were made
cutting in the mountains by the end of the eighth-ninth century. Some people
say that the statues were made in the twelfth century. It is known as a holy
place of lord Shiba for the statues made here. In the later period of Buddhism,
the whole of India was once influenced by the lord Shiba. It seems that even in
the northeast of India, the influence of lord Shiba was spread. We see the influence of lord Shiba also in the stories of Manipuri Ariba. It is
worth mentioning here that Ariba is the predecessor of the present language of
Manipuri. We see the impact of lord
Shiba in many stories written in this Ariba language. In Assam, Orissa & Bengal,
the Shiba community was also created at that earlier time. And Unakoti was the sign of influence of that time made
by the devotees of lord Shiba.
The location of Unakoti is 178 kilometers
away from Agartala which is the capital of Tripura (India). The nearby airport
is at Agartala. The nearest convenient railway station is Dharmanagar. The
distance of Unakoti from Dharmanagar is 20 kilometers, and again Kailashahar is 10 kilometers away from Unakoti. Kumarghat is the nearest
railway station from Kailashahar, but all the trains do not stop in Kumaraghat.
The statues of the mountains cut in the mountains
are very attractive. Due to the lack of preservation, many of the statues of
Unakoti are destroyed. Some archaeologists mentioned that this place was the
center of meditation of Buddhism, which was later turned under the influence of
lord Shiba. It is a real fact that actual research has not been completed yet.
There is a myth of Shiba known in Unakoti. Shiva took a rest here while going to Varanasi with a
million gods and goddess. During the night at bedtime, everyone were told to get up early. But the next day Shiba saw
everyone sleeping. Then being angry, the god and goddess were turned into statues
by Lord Shiba.
But local indigenous people believe that
Kallu Kumor, a man who was devoted to worshiping of
Parvati goddess, was a day dreamed and started making these mounds.
A festival is celebrated every year in the
day of Ashoka-Ashtami in April. There is also a fair here in January.
Currently, Unakoti is under the supervision
of Archaeological Survey of India. The Indian government has applied to UNESCO
to identify Unakoti as a World Heritage Site.
