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The Tripura Buranji is an account of the diplomatic contacts between the Ahom kingdom and the Tripura Kingdom between 1709 and 1715. The Buranji was written in 1724 by the envoys of the Ahom kingdom, Ratna Kandali Sarma Kataki and Arjun Das Bairagi Kataki. This work gives an account of three diplomatic missions that was sent to the Twipra kingdom, incidental descriptions of palaces, ceremonies and customs; and it also provides an eye witness account of the Twipra king Ratna Manikya II (1684–1712) deposed by his step-brother Ghanashyam Barthakur, later Mahendra Manikya (1712–1714).

This manuscript falls under the class of documents called Buranjis, a tradition of chronicle writing of the Ahom kingdom, of which there are two types—official and family. The Tripura Buranji, along with Padshah Buranji, Kachari Buranji and Jaintia Buranji are official reports of neighboring kingdoms that the Ahom court sanctioned and maintained for record. Surya Kumar Bhuyan, who had edited this as well as many other Buranjis, considered it to enjoy an exalted position among similar class of writings. Writers such as Chaudhuri and Sarkar consider the little-known document to be a significant source of extant events in Tripura. Besides, as N K Bhattacharya avers, it is a remarkable example of pre-colonial travel writing among such other writings as Kalidasa's Meghadootam etc. that describes "the landscape, habits, dress, manners and beliefs of the people, deities and temples and the intrigues for the throne within the court of Tripura."

Manuscript

The manuscript is written in Assamese and bears the title Tripura Desar Kathar Lekha: Sri-Sri-Rudra Singha Maharaja-dewe Tripura Desar Raja Ratna Manikya sahit priti-purbak Katati gatagata kara katha, comprising about 146 folios (4"x17") of sanchi paat made from the bark of the Aloe tree. Each folio had five lines of text on both sides and the 108th folio was missing. A table of contents existed at the end. The manuscript was purchased by the British Museum from J. Rodd on 8 January 1842. According to Bhuyan who has examined the manuscript, "the writings are legible, the words are separated and the divisions clearly marked"; and the handwriting displays cautious penmanship.

Background

The diplomatic missions that constitute the core of the accounts in this document were triggered by the Ahom king Rudra Singha's desire to create a confederacy with the Twipra (and Morang, Bana-Vishnupur, Nadiya, Cooch Behar, Burdwan, and Barahanagar) kingdom to remove the Mughals from Bengal. There were three missions between the years 1709 and 1715.

Contents

It describes "the landscape, habits, dress, manners and beliefs of the people, deities and temples and the intrigues for the throne within the court of Tripura." The strict protocols governing the diplomatic missions of the Ahom and Twipra kingdoms are described. A spring festival, as celebrated by the Twipra king and his subjects is noted of.

Notes

1. "Tripura Buranji popularly known as Tripura Desar Kathar Lekha, the name by which the original manuscript is known bears testimony about the history of the region of a crucial period. We are fortunate that there is a Tripura Buranji written by Ratna Kandali and Arjundas Kataki." (Sarkar 2016:5)
2. ^ "The Library of British Museum preserves a manuscript since January 8, 1842 written on Sanchi-Pat made of the bark of aloes wood. It was written in Assamese language by two emissaries of Ahomraj Maharaja Rudra Singha (1696ñ1714 AD) namely Ratna Kandali Sarma Kataki and Arjun Das Bairagi Kataki who were sent to the court of Maharaj Ratna Manikya, 1698–1772 AD of Tripura." (Chaudhuri 2016:26)
3. "There are Tai-Ahom Buranji chronicles written primarily in a Tai language called Ahom, not spoken for some 200 years, and Assamese Buranji chronicles written in the living Indo-Aryan language of Assamese. ... According to Wichasin, there are two types of Tai-Ahom chronicles: official and family. The latter were begun in the sixteenth century A.D. The official type trace their genesis to the appearance of the Tai-Mau chieftain Sukapha and a band of some 10,000 followers in Sadyia, a point in the northern reaches of the Bhramaputra Valley in the reputed year of 1228 A.D" (Hartmann 2011:227–228)
4. "For, information about the rest of India and especially about the neighbouring regions, was eagerly sought after and faithfully recorded in the royally-approved histories like the Padshah Buranji, Kachari Buranji, Jaintia Buranji and the Tripura Buranji Visitors and messengers from the Ahom kingdom to other parts of India were'also required to write out detailed accounts of the government, administration and economy of the lands they visited." (Misra 1985:1558)
5. "Dr. Surjya Kumar Bhuyan described the book in the following words "on the whole 'Tripura Buranji' constitutes a distinct landmark in the history of Assamese prose and Assamese historical literature with regard both to its contents and expression, occupying a position far above the average Buranji." (Chaudhuri 2016:27)
6. (Chaudhari 2016:26–27) harvcol error: no target: CITEREFChaudhari2016 (help)
7. "The history of North East India is primarily based on a valuable document known as Buranjis. The historicity of the Buranjis cannot be underestimated. Tripura Buranji popularly known as Tripura Desar Kathar Lekha, the name by which the original manuscript is known bears testimony about the history of the region of a crucial period. We are fortunate that there is a Tripura Buranji written by Ratna Kandali and Arjundas Kataki. (Sarkar 2016:5)
8. ^ "n Kalidas's Meghadootam and later Sandeshakavyas, in the descriptions of holy places like in Namdev's Tirthayatra in Marathi, in Vidyapati's 14th century Sanskrit work Bhuparikrama, in the 18th century Asamiya work Tripura Buranji by Ratna Kandali and Arjundas Bairagi and the like. The last-named work is especially interesting where envoys of King Rudra Sinha (1696-1714) of Assam were sent to the court of Ratnamanikya, the King of Tripura, to seek support for the proposed invasion of Bengal in 1714. As K. Satchidanandan writes, "These envoys who went on foot along with escorts to Tripura through Cachar and the foothills of Mizoram have carefully recorded in the racy style of medieval chronicles, the landscape, habits, dress, manners and beliefs of the people, deities and temples and the intrigues for the throne within the court of Tripura." (Bhattacharjee 2003:5–6)
9. (Bhuyan 1938:vii)
10. ^ (Bhuyan 1938:viii)
11. "King Rudra Singha was extremely annoyed with the Governor of Bengal, Nawab Murshid Kuli Khan who used to send Khelats to Sargadeo Rudra Singh 'insinuating' thereby that the Ahom Monarch was subordinate to the government of Moghuls. Rudra Singh was 'therefore' keen on organising a formidable confederacy against the Moghuls whom he described as 'enemies of Hinduism'. He despatched his envoys to the Rajas of Morang, Bana-Vishnupur, Nadiya, Cooch Behar, Burdwan, Barahanagar and Tripura seeking their support and cooperation in the fight against the invaders." (Chaudhuri 2016:26)
12. "Let us take for example the confidential letter of Sargadeo Rudra Singha Ruler of Assam had sent to the Tripura King Ratna Manikya which will show the highest standard of protocol being maintained in sending diplomatic missions at a time when the rules of international law were just taking shape and the work of Hugo Grotius was to receive the wide publicity that it afterwards came to have." (Chaudhari 2016:27) harvcol error: no target: CITEREFChaudhari2016 (help)
13. "The Assamese envoys reported that the spring Festival had all its regal splendour around it. The King himself in a ceremonial procession used to go to river Gomati with ten thousand followers and ceremonially dressed royal officials and enjoyed the festival of colours with heart's content, 'Tripura Buranji, chap. vi, pp. 15-16."(Chaudhari 2016:28) harvcol error: no target: CITEREFChaudhari2016 (help)

References

• Bhattacharjee, N K (2003). "From the Editor's Desk". Indian Literature. 46 (6). Sahitya Akademi. JSTOR 23341058.
• Bhuyan, S K (1938). "Introduction". Tripura Buranji. Gauhati, Assam: Govt of Assam.
• Chaudhuri, Bikach (2016), "Tripura: A Peep into the Past", in Poddar, Satyadeo (ed.), History of Tripura: As Reflected in the Manuscripts, New Delhi: National Mission for Manuscripts, pp. 26–28
• Hartmann, John F. (7 April 2011). "Phongsawadan Tai-Ahom: Ahom Buranji , 2 Vols. Transcribed and translated by Renu Wichasin. Bangkok: Amarin Printing and Publishing Ltd. Pp. xxiv, 993 . Map, Photos, Tables, Glossary. ". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 28 (01): 227–229. doi:10.1017/S002246340001554X.
• Misra, Tilottama (1985). "Social Criticism in Nineteenth Century Assamese Writing: The Orunodoi". Economic and Political Weekly. 20 (37): 1558–1566. JSTOR 4374821.
• Sarkar, I (2016), "Manuscripts and History", in Poddar, Satyadeo (ed.), History of Tripura: As Reflected in the Manuscripts, New Delhi: National Mission for Manuscripts, pp. 5–6

• Ahom kingdom
• Indian manuscripts
• History of Tripura