Six New Mela Special Trains to Tripurasundari Temple

Guwahati: Six new trains were introduced from Agartala by the Northeast Frontier Railway on Tuesday for devotees to attend the Diwali fair at Mata Tripurasundari temple in Tripura’s Gomati district.

Talking about the new trains, stationmaster of Agartala Railway Station, Amit Kumar told the media “Six mela special trains from Agartala and one train from Dharmanagar in North Tripura district to Udaipur in Gomati district were introduced this morning. One train left the station around 3.45am”

The Mata Tripurasundari temple is one of the 51 shaktipeeths in the country and a huge mela is organised on Diwali by the temple committee every year, where more than one lakh devotees visit.

The Diwali Mela was inaugurated by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Tuesday. The inauguration ceremony was followed by Aarti. Tripura tourism minister Pranajit Singha Roy, said, “The trust has taken an initiative to organise a Ganga arati on the lines of Haridwar.

Briefing on the Security arrangements, Additional Inspector-General of Police (law and order) Smriti Ranjan Das said, “Security arrangements have been made on the temple premises. Tripura State Rifles and Tripura police were deployed and CCTV cameras installed.”

The Tripura Sundari temple is situated in the ancient city of Udaipur, about 55 km from Agartala, Tripura. It is believed to be one of the holiest Hindu shrines in this part of the country. Popularly known as Matabari, the shrine is set upon a small hillock. Since the shape of a hillock resembles the hump of a tortoise (Kurma) and this shape called Kurmapṛṣṭhākṛti is considered the holiest possible site for a Shakti temple, hence also bestowing the name of Kurma Pīṭha. The Goddess is served by traditional Brahmin priests. Legend says that the right leg of Sati fell here. The five-foot Tripura Sundari idol is made of kasti stone.

Maharaja Dhanya Manikya installed the idol of Tripurasundari in 1501 on Rangamati hillock, 5km from Udaipur town, which was then capital of the princely state of Tripura.

According to Rajmala, the royal chronicle of the Tripura’s Manikya dynasty, Dhanya Manikya was planning to set up a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. But goddess Parvati instructed him in a dream to worship Tripura Sundari (Kali) in the temple in Udaipur.

In April this year, Tripurasundari Trust was formed with the Chief Minister as its chairman and the District Magistrate of Gomati as its Secretary. The event is expected to restore the religious and cultural identity of Tripura.

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