|
|
|
Home
> State >
Tripura
> Agartala |
| |
| Agartala |
|
|
|
|
Flying into Agartala, today, the traveller sees flat plains embossed with trees, and etched with the flow of rivers and the ribbons of roads. Often, there are rising folds of green mountains. And then the fields sweep along the serpentine courses of old river beds, spread out across the plain in wet, green patches.
The warm humidity of the valley in which Agartala sits gives the traveller the impression of a town set in a lush botanical garden : heavily foliaged trees, masses of shrubs, and houses in flourishing gardens behind fences of intricately woven matting. The Maharajas, however, clearly had a fondness for red brick and many of the official buildings stand out red and assertive against the all pervasive background of green. But some of the buildings, particularly the palace now converted into the Legislative Assembly, is in the white, Indo-Saracenic mode of the old British mansions of Calcutta: a British architect's vision of what an Indian prince's palace should look like.
Then there are the temples, reflecting the religious preferences of a long established Hindu dynasty; and a wealth of handicrafts, particularly in cane and bamboo, which combine utility with beauty- the halhnark of a true cottage industry.
Visitors to Tripura need never feel the lack of entertainment presented in an authentic village setting and in a genuine folk idiom, as the heritage of music and dance may be enjoyed even in far flung places. When a visitor is welcomed by -a Tripuri village they erect a beautiful arch of bamboo; girls ululate in joy, garland the guest and waft incense; and a man holds an egg in front of the visitor, rubs it in paddy, immerses it in water and then sprinkles the water on the ground. The egg is then thrown away because it has aosoroed evil influences which might be hovering around the visitor.
Only then is the visitor allowed to enter the villa ge, wreathed in good fortune.
And so, may the very best of good fortune attend you when you visit
Agartala.
|
|
|
|
|
