Mukunda Manikya (d. 1739) was the
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...
of
Tripura
Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
from 1729 to 1739.
Life
Originally named Chandramani Thakur, he was the youngest of the four surviving sons of Maharaja
Rama Manikya. Each of his elder brothers had successively ruled Tripura; under
Ratna II's rule, Chandramani had been sent as a hostage to the
Mughal viceregal court at
Murshidabad
Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district.
Durin ...
, while during the reigns of
Mahendra and
Dharma II, he was appointed ''Barathakur'' and ''
Yuvraj
Yuv(a)raj(a) (Sanskrit: युवराज) is an Indian title for the crown prince, and the heir apparent to the throne of an Indian (notably Hindu) kingdom or (notably in the Mughal Empire or British Raj) princely state. It is usually applied t ...
'' respectively.
When he succeeded Dharma in 1729, Chandramani assumed the regnal name Mukunda Manikya. He proved to be a pious monarch, donating lands to
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
s and
Kshatriya
Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...
s. He attempted to maintain cordial relations with the Mughals, sending his son
Panch Cowrie Thakur as a hostage and informing on a plot to kill the Mughal
Faujdar
Faujdar is a term of pre-Mughal origins. Under the Mughals it was an office that combined the functions of a military commander along with judicial and land revenue functions.
In pre-Mughal times, the term referred to a military officer but d ...
at
Udaipur
Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic cap ...
by his cousin
Rudramani.
However, in 1739, he was overthrown by the Mughals due to failing to provide Tripura's annual tribute of five elephants.
Udaipur was raided and Mukunda, alongside his sons Bhadramani,
Krishnamoni and nephew
Gangadhar
Gangadhar (1936–2003) was an Indian actor known for his work in Kannada cinema. A character actor who transitioned from stage to films in the mid-1960s, he had a brief period of success when his performances in social-dramas such as '' Gej ...
, were arrested. Unable to bear this humiliation, he poisoned himself, with his queen performing ''
sati
Sati or SATI may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi
* ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike
*Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer
*Sati, a character in ''Th ...
'' in his funeral pyre. He was succeeded by Rudramani (afterward known as Joy Manikya II), who was chosen over Mukunda's sons after he drove the Mughals out of Udaipur.
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Notes
References
{{reflist
Kings of Tripura
History of Tripura
Dethroned monarchs
1739 deaths
18th-century suicides
Suicides in India