Unkoti Hill is a

sculptural Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

emblem and ancient Shaivite place that hosts approx ''ninety-nine lakh ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine''

rock carvings A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

figures and images of gods and goddesses. It is a place of worship with huge rock reliefs celebrating

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

. Unakoti literally means "one less one

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

" or "koti" in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

. In local

Kokborok Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...

language, it is called Subrai Khung. It is the prime tourist spot of

Unakoti District Unakoti (Bengali: ঊনকোটি) is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in northeastern India. It is the least populated district of Tripura, with fourth highest literacy rate. The district has a total of four sub divisions ...

, in the

Kailashahar Kailashahar (or Kôilāśohôr) is the fourth largest urban area in the north eastern state of India, Tripura, located near northwest Bangladesh border. It is a Municipal council and the administrative center of the Unakoti district, this city ...

Subdivision of the North-eastern

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

state 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 east a ...

UNAKOTI- AN OPEN AIR ART GALLERY IN TRIPURA!

Iconography

File:Unakoti 1.jpg, Shiva with the waters of Ganga flowing from his locks. File:Unakoti 5.jpg, Close up of the sculpture of Shiva. File:Unakoti (Scorpian ad).JPG, Image of

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around co ...

. File:Ganesha, Unakoti ( ঊনকোটি).JPG, Image of Gigantic

Ganesha Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...

File:Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava,Unakoti ( ঊনকোটি).JPG, Image of KalBhairava File:Unakoti 6.jpg, A wall of stone with reliefs. The images found at Unakoti are of two types: namely rock-carved figures and stone images. Among the rock-cut carvings, the central Shiva head and gigantic

figures deserve special mention. The central Shiva head known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava is about 30 feet high including an embroidered head-dress which itself is 10 feet high. On each side of the head-dress of the central Shiva, there are two full-size female figures - one of

standing on a lion and another female figure on the other side. In addition, three enormous images of

Nandi Bull Nandi ( sa, नन्दि), also known as Nandikeshwara or Nandideva, is the bull vahana of the Hindu god Shiva. He is also the guardian deity of Kailash, the abode of Shiva. Almost all Shiva temples display stone-images of a seated Nandi, g ...

are found half-buried in the ground. There are various other stone as well as rock-cut images at Unakoti.

Legend

According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva once spent a night here en route to Kashi. 99,99,999 gods and goddesses followed him. He had asked his followers to wake up before sunrise and make their way towards Kashi. Unfortunately, none awoke, except Lord Shiva himself. Before he set out for Kashi alone, he put a curse on the others, turning them to stone and that is how the site got its name. Local tribals believe that the maker of these idols was Kallu Kumhar. He was a devotee of Parvati and wanted to accompany Shiva-Parvati to their abode on Mount Kailash. On Parvati's insistence, Shiva agreed to take Kallu to Kailash, but for this a condition was kept that he would have to make one crore idols of Shiva in one night. Kallu got involved in this work like a man of his tune. But when dawn broke, the idols turned out to be one less than one crore. Adamant on getting rid of this trouble named Kallu, Shiva left Kallu the potter with his idols in Unakoti, making this an excuse and kept on walking.

Festival

Every year a big fair popularly known as Ashokastami Mela is held in the month of April. The festival is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Another smaller festival takes place in January.

Location

Unakoti lies 178 km to the northeast from

Agartala Agartala () is the capital city of the Indian state of Tripura, and is one of the largest cities in northeast India. The city is governed by the Agartala Municipal Corporation. The city is the seat of the Government of Tripura. It is located on ...

which has the closest airport, 8 km to the east from

, district headquarters of

Unakoti district Unakoti (Bengali: ঊনকোটি) is an administrative district in the state of Tripura in northeastern India. It is the least populated district of Tripura, with fourth highest literacy rate. The district has a total of four sub divisions ...

, 148 km to the south-east from

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

. The nearest railway station is 19.6 km away at Dharmanagar railway station on the

Lumding–Sabroom section The Lumding–Sabroom section is a railway line under Lumding railway division of Northeast Frontier Railway zone of Indian Railways. It is a single broad-gauge track from Lumding in Nagaon District of Assam state to Agartala in West Tripura ...

. From Dharmanagar railway station it takes about 30–40 minutes by car. Travelling from capital town Agartala has become much easier nowadays. The morning train from Agartala reaches Dharmanagar before 10 am. The afternoon train from Dharmanagar reaches Agartala by 8 PM.

Preservation

The site has suffered centuries of neglect causing degradation and loss of considerable scale to the rock art. Since its adoption by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) as a heritage site, the situation has slightly improved, though a lot of work including substantial excavation remains to be undertaken. The Centre has recently granted Rs 12

to the state for developing the area, 178 km from here, as a major tourist destination. The site was added to the tentative list of the UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in December 2022.

References