Udaipur, Tripura, India
The Tripura Sundari temple in Udaipur in Tripura is one of the 51 Shakti Peeths. Udaipur was the old capital of the Tripura Kingdom until it was moved to Agartala some 100 odd years ago. It is 50 kms away from Agartala and is where the famous Tripura Sundari temple is.
Remember, I have no car in the visit to this state - my car is resting in the homestay in Guwahati
. So I took a local bus ( a chicken bus as this expert traveller would say) to Udaipur. As always it is an experience to travel by bus in India. Its a typical Bengal style bus journey. The bus would stop anywhere, anytime, often in the middle of the road if a potential passenger was spotted. Each bus employs a spotter, crier, persuader, all rolled into one. Progress is slow and the bus labours under the incredible numbers that squeeze into the bus (you must also remember that we are in the realm of Rajalakshmis - she of the "healthy" proportions). Unfortunately, the Bengal habit of also allowing travellers to travel on the roof of the bus is absent - in Bengal that is the place to travel on a bus. Tickets are half priced and it is more breezy and with a view on the top !
The story of Shakti Peeths is a complicated story which non Hindus would find difficult to follow. When Shiva performed his cosmic dance and the Sudarshana Chakra was used to cut through Shakti's corpse, it is believed that the places where the various body parts of Shakti fell form the 51 Shakti Peeths. Her right leg is believed to have fallen in the site of the Tripura Sundari temple in Udaipur.
The Tripra Sundari temple is about 500 years old. It is a small temple along but with the beautiful and huge Kalyan Sagar lake as the temple pond. When I went there, there were absolutely no crowds, and in keeping with the experience in this part of the country, no harassment at all
. Even photography is permitted inside. The only negative is that animal sacrifices are performed daily here, as in the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati. I carefully chose a time to visit the temple when there would be no sacrifices. The lake is nice and clean and full of tortoises and fishes. Part of the ritual is to feed muri (puffed rice) to them ! Very Bengali tradition.
The temple comes alive during Diwali time. After all Kali Puja is a premier festival in Eastern India. Huge crowds visit the temple at that time, I understand.
It is also speculated that name of the state - Tripura - originates from the deity in this temple, Tripura Sundari. The origin is not clear, but it is more likely that the origin is from the Kokborok words Twipra - tui, meaning water and pra meaning near. At its zenith the Tripura kingdom extended to the Bay of Bengal. But the origin of the name is shrouded in mystery.
I wanted to end the Tripura visit with a visit to this temple, so I scheduled it this way. Tomorrow, I fly back to Guwahati to be reunited with my faithful companion. I missed him during the visit to this state, but he deserved a break ! Tripura has been an interesting and somewhat surprising state to visit. Not many tourists come here. Almost no foreign traveler comes here and very few Indian tourists do too.
I came expecting a mini Bengal. It was and it wasn't. It has its own character. I am glad that I came.
Tripura Sundari
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Udaipur, Tripura, India
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2025-05-23
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Anne in Salem
2015-03-19
Beautiful!!
What did you eat? : )
Anne in Salem
2015-03-20
Being completely ignorant about Hinduism, I searched Shakti Peetha tonight. Wow, what a complicated story. Yes, hard to follow. I found a list of the 51 sites with a map showing locations, and you have been near quite a few of them. I wonder if all the temples are as beautifully decorated and maintained. Thank you for my learning today.
Vincy Joseph
2015-03-20
I loved the title for its south indianish connect, though it had nothing to do with it. So, you travelled "Cattle-class" in Tirupura (as one of our infamous politicians quoted some time back).
This is yet another type of temple architechture, right? or am i getting confused?Fishes are common in a lake.. Tortoises ? Would have loved seeing them in their natural habitat. Glad you took around this beautiful place :-)
Asha
2015-03-20
Udaipur in Tripura??!! I thought udaisingh wala udaipur is the only one.
Beautiful sindoor colored temple gopuram and glad you gave us a virtual darshan of this shakti. So, tripura gets its name like that and that shakti story is interesting . I remember when we were at Nainital, a localite had said
that shakti's eye fell there while shiv was carrying here and so the devi is called Naina devi and there is a similar temple with gopuram on the banks of the lake and the lake is also called nainital.
Glad you experienced the place and could write about it. Enjoy your trip further and bring more lores , legends and pictures:)
Ravi Rajagopalan
2015-03-20
If I remember right, Kamakhya is where the private parts of the Shakti fell. Which is why the deity in Gauhati "menstruates" every month.
Ravi Rajagopalan
2015-03-20
I am in a strange gestalt here - working on the Investment Memo, listening to Yonathan Avishal on TSFJazz (the French jazz station) and reading about the Shakti. We Indians are truly blessed. We come from a culture that is so open that we absorb influences so easily and yet be comfortable with whatever skin we want to wear that day. Your blog typifies this so well.
indigoite
2015-03-20
@Anne - I can't believe you did that. Wow. Amazing, your interest and open mindedness is simply amazing. Take a bow.
Well, there isn't anything special about the food here. I didn't even look !! The only thing I noticed is that there is an eating joint here with the improbably name of Eatopia Zannat !!
@Vincy - Yes, there is a temple with exactly the same name in Chennai. Temple architecture in each place tends to be unique reflecting local history and architecture. They are interesting to see, even for non Hindus.
@Asha - Yes, there is also a Lake palace nearby to complete the image of the Rajasthan Udaipur !! Yes, each of th 51 Shakti Peeths have a legend of one part of the goddess
@Ravi - Yes, that is so about the Kamakhya temple. Wow, that is some concoction you brewed !!
Suja
2015-03-20
We do indeed have some super weird stories in our mythology..yet if you drill down, the story is something else altogether.. Glad to see the temple in your photos..
indigoite
2015-03-21
@Suja - Indeed so. As we have debated in the past, we should discount the literal event and find the deeper meaning. Which you do so well when you write.
sandhya sriram
2015-03-23
while in a previous post, we spoke about developing tourism, it is good to not develop tourism as well in a way. you really need those really peaceful places as well.
and if you have a non corrupt leader, that itself is a good enough situation to be from an economic development perspective, i believe, deep rooted corruption is the cause for all ill.
and really interesting bus journey, in a way, your journey is now really complete. you have also experienced a real travel in the process
Sandhya Sriram
2015-03-23
b.t.w, have you heard of this tamil joke,
what would you call a beautiful girl who can do spin bowling
Bala tirupara sundari :-)
indigoite
2015-03-24
@Sandhya - Ha ha ha. That was a good one :)