Agartala: An eighth century archaeological site in Tripura is set to get the World Heritage site tag.
Unakoti hill of Unakoti district is “one of the richest heritage sites of (northeastern India) but unfortunately it fails to attract many tourists because of lack of campaign,” regrets Tajesh Gorg, superintendent of Archaeological Survey of India, Aizawl circle.
He was speaking after opening an exhibition at Unakoti as part of World Heritage Week celebrations.
The exhibition will continue until November 25, northeasttoday.in reported.
Gorg stressed the need for spreading the message of the eternal apple of the site to the outside world.
Aizawl circle of the Archaeological Survey of India has recently been set up to look after the archaeological sites of Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram,” he disclosed and assured that necessary steps will be taken to improve the Unakoti and other archaeological sites of the region.
District magistrate Pramatha Ranjan Bhattacharjee, additional superintendent of police Biplab Deb and other dignitaries were present. They urged the ASI to take step for better maintenance of the site and publicizing it.
Unakoti Hill (one less a koti in Bengali) hosts an ancient Shaivite temple with huge rock reliefs celebrating Lord Shiva. It is the prime tourist spot of Unakoti Tripura District. It dates back to seventh century. It boasts of marvellous rock carvings, murals with their primitive beauty, and waterfalls.
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva once went to Kashi (Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state) with 1 crore (10 million) gods and goddesses including him. He made a night halt at this location and asked others to wake up before sun rise and proceed to Kashi.
It is said only Shiva got up in the morning. So, he left for Kashi alone after cursing the others to become stone images. Hence the place has 10 million stone images and carvings minus one at Unakoti. These carvings are located at a beautifully landscaped forest area with green vegetation all around.