A Political History of Tripura

Tripura is an exotic geographical entity at the North Eastern tip of India. Having been ruled for centuries by native princes, it merged with the Union of India in 1949 and attained, in Jan. 1972, the status of a fullfledged State. The present book is perhaps the first ever scholarly effort to highlight the major political turning events in the history of Tripura from its very beginning to the year 1985. The study is all the more significant as no Kalyan or Thucydides wrote the early history of Tripura. The treatise (Rajmala), a voluminous chronicle compiled at the instance of the kings in fifteenth century, though a primary source, is incomplete, worn out, and contains a mass of unsystematic materials. The book contains nine chapters which would acquaint the readers with physical background of Tripura; its mythological rulers; immigration of Mongolian tribes from China and their settlements in North East and how the Tripuri tribe who settled in Tripura came to be known an Tripas and gave their name to the area and gradually extended their suzerainty and rose in prominence; intrusion of Muslims and their conflicts and wars for lands and elephants from 1240 to 1765 with the MANIKYA dynasty of Tripura and how the invaders influenced Tripura in several ways; period of peace under British rule and reforms of enlightened native princes till 1947; lastly growth of political consciousness among people, formation of political parties and election; exodus from East Bengal into Tripura and the resultant tribal reaction leading to the massacre of 1980 as well as trends towards independent tribal state. Dr. Gan-Chaudhuri, a social anthropologist by training and vocation is particularly well qualified in making this study by his synthetic approach, a specialized work, comprehensible to scholars as well as general readers.