Tripura Sundari Temple is a Hindu temple of the Goddess Tripura Sundari, better known locally as Devi Tripureshwari. The temple is situated in the ancient city of Udaipur, about 55 km from Agartala, Tripura and can be reached by train and road from Agartala. It is believed to be one of the holiest Hindu shrines in this part of the country and witnesses the highest number of visitors for a temple in North-East India, after Kamakhya Temple in Assam. The state of Tripura is named after this temple. Popularly known as Matabari, the shrine is set upon a small hillock that resembles the hump of a tortoise (Kurma). 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.
The temple is considered to be one of the 51 Shakti Peethas; legend says that the little finger of the left leg of Sati fell here. Here, Shakti is worshipped as Tripurasundarī and the accompanying Bhairava is Tripuresh. The main shrine, a cubical edifice with a three-tier roof with a finial, erected by Maharaja of Tripura Dhanya Manikya in 1501 CE, is constructed in the Bengali Ek-ratna style.
There are two similar but different sized black stone idols of the Goddess in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The larger and more prominent idol of 5 feet height is of Goddess Tripura Sundari and the smaller one, adorably called Chhoto-Ma (literally, Little Mother), is 2 feet tall and is an idol of Goddess Chandi. The smaller idol was said to have been carried by the kings of Tripura to the battlefield as well as to hunting expeditions. Every year on the occasion of Diwali, a famous Mela takes place near the temple which is visited by more than 0.2 million pilgrims.
Hostory
Legend has it that King Dhanya Manikya, who ruled over Tripura in the closing years of the 15th century, had a revelation one night in a dream in which Goddess Tripura Sundari instructed him to initiate her worship on the hilltop near the town of Udaipur, the contemporary capital of the kingdom. The king found out that a temple on the hillock was already dedicated to Lord Vishnu. He was in a dilemma, unable to decide how a temple dedicated to Vishnu could have an idol of Shakti. The following night, the divine vision was repeated. The king understood that Vishnu and Shakti were different forms of the same Supreme Deity (Brahman). Thus, the temple of Tripura Sundari came into being around the year 1501 CE. In the dawn of this century, the temple has crossed 500 years. This legend is recounted as an example of solidarity between two sub-groups of Hinduism: the Vaishnava and the Shakta sects.
Architecture
Ek- Ratna Style (Bengali: রত্ন শিল্পরীতি) is a style of Bengal temple architecture, that originated in Bengal from the 15th to 16th centuries, under the Mallabhum kingdom (also called Malla dynasty).[1] Originating as a regional style in Hindu temple architecture. It is an extended style of the Chala temple.[2] The special feature of Ratna-style temples is the curved cornice of the chala.
Ratna-style temples were built all over Bengal. But most of the temples are found in the city of Bishnupur. In the present day, the temples are now located in two separate national territories: the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh.
