Tripura (princely state)

Tripura State (Hill Tipperah) ত্রিপুরা
Princely State of British Indian Empire
← 1809–1949 →
Flag Coat of arms
1858 map of the Bengal Presidency and 'Independent Tipperah'
Capital		Agartala
History
•	British protectorate	1809
•	Accession to India	1949
Area
•	1941	10,660 km2 (4,116 sq mi)
Population
•	1941	513,000
	Density	48.1 /km2  (124.6 /sq mi)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "article name needed". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

'Hill Tipperah' in the Bengal Gazetteer, 1907

Ujjayanta Palace.

Neermahal Palace.

Maharaja Bir Chandra Manikya with Queen Manamohini

Tagore with Maharaja Radha Kishore in 1900

Queen Kanchan Prabha Devi who signed the instrument of accession as president of the Council of Regency

Tripura State, also known as Hill Tipperah,^[1] was a princely state in India during the period of the British Raj and for some two years after the departure of the British. Its rulers belonged to the Manikya dynasty and until August 1947 the state was in a subsidiary alliance, from which it was released by the Indian Independence Act 1947. In 1949, it became one of the last princely states to accede to the newly-independent Indian Union.

The princely state was located in the present-day Indian state of Tripura. The state included one town, Agartala, as well as a total of 1,463 villages. It had an area of 10,660 km² and a population of 513,000 inhabitants in 1941.

History

The predecessor state of Tripura was founded about 100 AD. According to legend the Manikya dynasty derived its name from a jewel ('Mani' in Sanskrit) that had been obtained from a frog. The first king who ruled the state under the royal title of Manikya was Maharaja Maha Manikya who ascended the throne in 1400. The Rajmala, a chronicle of the Kings of Tripura, was written in Bengali verse in the 15th century under Dharma Manikya I.^[2] The kingdom of Tripura reached its maximum expansion in the 16th century.^[3]

In 1764, when the British East India Company took control of Bengal, the parts of Bengal that had been under the Mughal Empire were taken over by the British administration. In 1809 Tripura became a British protectorate and in 1838 the Rajas of Tripura were recognised by the British as sovereigns. Between 1826 and 1862 the eastern part was subject to the ravages caused by Kuki invaders that plundered and destroyed villages and massacred their inhabitants.

There were troubles in every succession among the Tripura royal family members when the aspiring princes often resorted to use the services of the Kukis to cause disturbances. Thus in 1904 the British enacted a sanad that regulated permanently the succession of the royal family. Thenceforward the succession would have to be recognised by the Viceroy of India representing the British Crown.

Bir Chandra Manikya (1862–1896) modelled his administration on the pattern of British India, and enacted reforms including the foundation of the Agartala Municipal Corporation. In 1905 Tripura became part of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam and was designated as 'Hill Tippera'. In addition to the Hill Tippera area, which corresponds to Tripura State, the kings retained a fertile estate known as Chakla Roshnabad with an area of 1476 km², located in the flatland of Noakhali, Sylhet and Tipperah districts; the latter is now mostly included in the Comilla District of Bangladesh.

The last king was Kirit Bikram Kishore, son of Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarma, who ruled for two years, 1947–1949. On 15 October 1949 the state acceded to the Indian Union as a consequence of the Tripura Merger Agreement signed by Queen Kanchan Prava Devi who was presiding the Council of Regency formed following the death of the last ruling King, Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarma.

Kirit Pradyot Debbarma (b. 1978) is the son of the last king.

Rulers

The head of the royal family of Tripura held the title of 'Maharaja' from 1919 onwards. Since 1897 the rulers were entitled to a 13 gun salute by the British authorities.^[4]

Rajas

• 1684 – 1712 Ratna Manikya II (2nd time) (d. 1712)
• 1712 – 1714 Mahendra Manikya
• 1714 – 1732 Dharma Manikya II (1st time)
• 1732 – 1733 Jagat Manikya
• 1733 Dharma Manikya II (2nd time)
• 1733 – 1737 Mukanda Manikya III (d. 1739)
• 1737 – 1739 Jai Manikya II (1st time)
• 1739 – 174. Indrasya Manikya II (1st time)
• 17.. – 174. Udai Manikya
• 174. – 174. Jai Manikya II (2nd time)
• 174. – 174. Indrasya Manikya II (2nd time)
• 174. – 1743 Jai Manikya II (3rd time)
• 1743 – 1760 Bijaya Manikya III
• c.1748 – c.1758 Shamsher Ghazi -Regent (d. c.1758)
• 1760 Lakshman Manikya (d. 1760)
• 1760 – 1761 Krishna Manikya (1st time) (d. 1783)
• 1761 – 1767 Balaram Manikya
• 1767 – 11 July 1783 Krishna Manikya (2nd time) (s.a.)
• 11 Jul 1783 – Mar 1804 Rajadhara Manikya II (d. 1804)
• 11 Jul 1783 – 1786 Jahnavi Rani Mahadevayu (f) -Regent
• Mar 1804 – 18 October 1809 Ramaganga Manikya (1st time) (b. 17.. – d. 1826)
• 18 Oct 1809 – 6 April 1813 Durga Manikya (b. 17.. – d. 1813)
• 6 April 1813 – 14 November 1826 Ramaganga Manikya (2nd time) (s.a.)
• 14 Nov 1826 – 19 March 1830 Kashichandra Manikya (d. 1830)
• 19 Mar 1830 – 3 April 1849 Krishna Kishor Manikya (d. 1849)
• 3 April 1849 – 31 July 1862 Ishanachandra Manikya (b. 1829 – d. 1862)
• 31 Jul 1862 – 11 December 1896 Virachandra Manikya (b. 1838 – d. 1896) (personal style Maharaja from 24 October 1877)
• 31 Jul 1862 – 9 March 1870 .... -Regent
• 11 Dec 1896 – 12 March 1909 Radha Kishor Manikya (b. 1857 – d. 1909)
• 12 Mar 1909 – 1 January 1919 Virendra Kishor Manikya (b. 1883 – d. 1923)

Maharajas

• 1 January 1919 – 13 August 1923 Virendra Kishor Manikya
• 17 August 1923 – 17 May 1947 Vira Vikrama Kishor Manikya (born 1908, died 1947) (after 3 June 1935 called Sir Vira Vikrama Kishor Manikya)
• 17 May 1947 – 15 October 1949 Kirit Vikrama Kishor Manikya, a minor (born 1933 – died 2006)
• 17 May 1947 – 15 October 1949 Maharani Kanchan Prabhavati Mahadevi, Regent (born 1914, died 1973)

Dewans (Chief ministers)

• 1850 – 1857? Balaram Hazari
• 18.. – 18.. Braja Mohan Thakur
• 18.. – 1873 Dinabandhu Thakur
• Jul 1873 – 1877 Nilmoni Das
• 1877 – 1880 Sambhu Chandra Mukherjee
• 1880 – 1883 ....
• 1883 Prince Radakishore
• 1883 – 1886 Dhanajaya Thakur
• 1886 (3 months) Babu Dinanath Sen
• 1886 – Nov 1888 Rai Bahadur Mohini Mohan Bardhan
• Nov 1888 – 1890? the Raja
• 1890 – 1892 Rai Umakanta Das Bahadur (1st time)
• 1892 – 1901? Dinabandhu Thakur
• 1901 – 1905 Rai Umakanta Das Bahadur (2nd time)
• Nov 1905 – Feb 1907 Shri Ramani Mohan Chattopadhyaya
• Feb 1907 – Dec 1908 Rai Umakanta Das Bahadur (3rd time)
• Dec 1908 – 7 November 1909 Sirjukta Babu Annada Charan Gupta
• Nov 1909 – 1914 Nabadwip Chandra Deb Barma (b. 1854 – d. 1931)
• 1914 – 1915 Brajendra Kishore Deb Barma (b. 1880 – d. 19..) (1st time)
• 1915 – 1923 Srijut Babu Prasanna Kumar Das Gupta
• 9 December 1923 – 19 August 1927 Nabadwipchandra Dev Burma (s.a.) (1st time)
• 1927 – 1929 Jyotis Chandra Sen (1st time)
• 17 May 1929 – 1931? Nabadwipchandra Dev Burma (s.a.) (2nd time)
• 1931 – 28 August 1932 B.K. Sen
• 28 Aug 1932 – 20 November 1932 Manyabara Rana Bodhjung Bahadur (b. 1894 – d. 1946)
• 20 Nov 1932 – 1939/40 Jyotis Chandra Sen (2nd time)
• 1939/40 – 18 November 1946 Manyabara Rana Bodhjung Bahadur
• Nov 1946 – 1947 Brajendra Kishore Deb Barma (s.a.) (2nd time)
• 1947 S.V. Mukherjee
• 20 Dec 1947 – 15 October 1949 Abani Bushan Chatterjee

British Political Agents

• 3 July 1871 – Feb 1874 Ambrose William Bushe Power (b. 18.. – d. 1907)
• 11 Feb 1874 – May 1875 Edward Gordon Lillingston
• 27 May 1875 – Feb 1876 W.L. Samuels
• 22 Aug 1876 – Apr 1877 Thomas Edward Coxhead (b. 1842 – d. 1890)
• Feb 1877 – Apr 1877 James Francis Bradbury (acting for Coxhead)
• 26 Apr 1877 – 28 October 1878 C.W. Bolton
• 1878 – 1879 F. Jones
• 1879 – 1882 G. Toynbee

See also

• Eastern States Agency
• Political integration of India
• Tripura Merger Agreement
• Tripura Buranji

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tripura (princely state).

• Kings & Royal Families of Tripura
• Manipuri Queens in the Royal House of Tripura – A Historical Study
• Tripura ruling dynasty

Coordinates: 23°50′N 91°17′E / 23.833°N 91.283°E / 23.833; 91.283