Agartala: The UNESCO World Heritage Convention has added three more sites including ‘Unakoti’ of Tripura in UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites. Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), G Kishan Reddy, said Unakoti is a massive gallery set in the forest displaying a number of towering low relief images in a unique style, making it a masterpiece of human creative genius.
The Union Minister highlighted the significance of Unakoti tourist spot, saying it is located in the northeastern part of Tripura and known as an ancient holy place associated with Shaiva worship. He wrote on Twitter, “Congratulations India! India adds 3 more sites to @UNESCO ’s Tentative List: 01 Vadnagar- A multi-layered Historic town, Gujarat 02 Sun Temple, Modhera and its adjoining monuments 03 Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Unakoti Range, Unakoti District”.
“With this, India now has 52 sites on @UNESCO Tentative List. The List indicates rich cultural & natural wealth of India & shows huge diversity of our heritage With Hon PM Sh @NarendraModi ’s dynamic vision & leadership, India is committed to adding more sites on the World Heritage List,” he further wrote.
According to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Unakoti is located about 8 km from Kailashahar and 185 km from the State capital, Agartala. The vertical surface of the Unakoti hills was used by the ancient people to carve various mythological scenes and iconographic forms of Siva, Ganesha, Uma-Maheshwara, etc.
Unakoti is famous for its colossal rock-cut panels depicting Hindu deities. It provides evidence of ancient Shaiva worship in Tripura from the 8th-9th centuries CE. Literary references to Unakoti as a place of Shaiva worship are found in the works of AK Chaudhuri (1910-11) and the writings of Captain Williams (1914) the then-British political agent to Tripura.
Etymologically Unakoti stands for ‘Una’ meaning one less and ‘Koti’ meaning crore in Bengali, hence the name of the site ‘Unakoti’ literally translates as “one less than a crore”.
According to legends, Unakoti was the meeting place of Gods and Goddesses where they assembled on the Shukla Ashtami (8th day of the lunar fortnight of the Chaitra month) with the intention of creating another Vrindavan near Mathura. Lord Shiva instructed his fellow companions to wake up before sunrise in order to resume their journey. In the morning no one could get up except Shiva himself. So, he cursed them to turn into stones.
