Unakoti

• Sculptures of Unakoti hills, stone cut images of gods and goddesses and rock carvings "Unakoti Heritage Site Unakoti District Website India".
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  Shiva with the waters of Ganga flowing from his locks.[6]
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  Close up of the sculpture of Shiva.
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  Image of Durga.
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  Image of Gigantic Ganesha
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  Image of KalBhairava [7]
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  A wall of stone with reliefs.

The images found at Unakoti are of two types: namely rock-carved figures and stone images. Among the rock-cut carvings, the central Shiva head and gigantic Ganesha figures deserve special mention. The central Shiva head known as Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava is about 30 feet high including an embroidered head-dress which itself is 10 feet high. On each side of the head-dress of the central Shiva, there are two full-size female figures - one of Durga standing on a lion and another female figure on the other side. In addition, three enormous images of Nandi Bull are found half-buried in the ground. There are various other stone as well as rock-cut images at Unakoti.[8]

According to Hindu scriptures, Lord Shiva once spent a night here en route to Kashi. 99,99,999 gods and goddesses followed him. He had asked his followers to wake up before sunrise and make their way towards Kashi. Unfortunately, none awoke, except Lord Shiva himself. Before he set out for Kashi alone, he put a curse on the others, turning them to stone and that is how the site got its name.[9]

Local tribals believe that the maker of these idols was Kallu gurjar. He was a devotee of Parvati and wanted to accompany Shiva-Parvati to their abode on Mount Kailash. On Parvati's insistence, Shiva agreed to take Kallu to Kailash, but for this a condition was kept that he would have to make one crore idols of Shiva in one night. Kallu got involved in this work like a man of his tune. But when dawn broke, the idols turned out to be one less than one crore. Adamant on getting rid of this trouble named Kallu, Shiva left Kallu the potter with his idols in Unakoti, making this an excuse and kept on walking.[10]

Every year a big fair popularly known as Ashokastami Mela is held in the month of April. The festival is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Another smaller festival takes place in January.[11]

Unakoti lies 178 km to the northeast from Agartala which has the closest airport, 8 km to the east from Kailashahar, district headquarters of Unakoti district, 148 km to the south-east from Silchar. The nearest railway station is 19.6  km away at Dharmanagar railway station on the Lumding–Sabroom section. From Dharmanagar railway station it takes about 30–40 minutes by car. Travelling from capital town Agartala has become much easier nowadays. The morning train from Agartala reaches Dharmanagar before 10 am. The afternoon train from Dharmanagar reaches Agartala by 8 PM.[12]

The site has suffered centuries of neglect causing degradation and loss of considerable scale to the rock art. Since its adoption by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) as a heritage site, the situation has slightly improved, though a lot of work including substantial excavation remains to be undertaken.[13] The Centre has recently granted Rs 12 crore to the state for developing the area, 178  km from here, as a major tourist destination.[14]

The site was added to the tentative list of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2022.[15]

• Hindu pilgrimage sites
• National Geological Monuments of India
• List of Hindu temples
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UNAKOTI: A HISTORICAL PLACE IN TRIPURA! THE MYSTERIOUS UNAKOTI: AN OPEN AIR ART GALLERY IN TRIPURA!