History of Agartala

Situated in the lap of Mother Nature, Agartala is more of a historical city. Traces of history of the city are found in the historical sites and buildings and the ancient monuments and sites here which have been here in the city since ages. The Ujjayanta palace, Neer mahal, Kunjaban, Fourteen Goddess Temple and many others prove the existence of the city since the ancient times.

Located on the banks of River Haora, the city tells the story of is glorious past. The name Agartala has been derived from two words “Agar” and “tala”. While “agar” means is a kind of oily valuable perfume tree, “tala” means a store house. Therefore Agartala means a place having heavy density of Agaru tree.

Agartala is the capital of the state of Tripura. Before Agartala became the capital, Tripura was a princely state called “Swadhin Tripira” and its capital was located at Rangamati. Maharaja Krishna Chandra Manikya Bahadur of the Manikya dynasty shifted the capital to present Agartala in 1760 due to the invasion of the Kukis. And it was named as Havele. Maharaja Krishna Chandra Manikya Bahadur founded the capital Agartala in 1838.  Agartala served as the capital of Tripura during the British rule. Tripura became a Union Territory in 1963 and attained the status of a full fledged state in 1972 and Agartala was made the capital of Tripura.

Agartala is a well planned city in Tripura and the whole of Northeast. Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur is called the founder of the planned city of Agartala. Bir Bikram Kishore is considered the father of modern Tripura, as the planning of present day Tripura was done during his rule. The maharaja always wanted to turn his kingdom into a developed one. He initiated many developmental works in Agartala and reorganized the town in a planned manner with new roads, buildings and markets. The Agartala Airport is presently the second busiest airport in Northeast India after Guwahati which was designed and built in 1942 by Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur. The Maharaja also built the Neer Mahal for one of the Maharajas in 1930. Today Agartala is a developing city with much number of tourist sites, hotels and restaurants and shopping complexes.