Tripura Hills & Plains · Northeast Hill Massif
Tripura's resistance record does not point where a reader expects. The kingdom was a protected princely state, so its subjects' grievances were with their own government's revenue machinery rather than with a British collector, and its four recorded risings — 1850, 1860–62, 1863 and 1942–43 — were fought by Tipra, Kuki, Jamatia and Reang communities against the house tax, the titun carrying obligation, discriminatory assessment and the exactions of appointed sardars and chowdhuries. Each was put down by the Maharaja's forces. The Bengali-speaking plains, by contrast, were continuous with Comilla and the wider politics of eastern Bengal, and the Indian national movement reached Agartala through that side of the region rather than through the hills. The two histories ran alongside each other in a territory a day wide, and they have almost no personnel in common.
Risings and revolts
A refusal of the revenue collection carried out under the dewan Balaram Hazari, led by Kirti and Parikshit. It is the earliest of the risings recorded in detail and set the pattern for those that followed — a grievance about assessment and unpaid service rather than about the dynasty itself.
Outcome: Suppressed by the state.
A refusal of Manikya authority on the northern frontier under Ratan Poea, carried out as raids on villages in northern Tripura and in Sylhet, in which villagers were killed; the attack at Adampur in 1862 is the largest recorded.
Outcome: The state instituted a system of regular payments to the frontier communities as a means of settling the frontier rather than garrisoning it.
A rising of the Jamatia against the titun obligation, which required hill people to carry state officials' baggage without payment, and against increased assessment. Fighting broke out after a court officer demanded porterage; the Maharaja's forces were reinforced by allied Kuki leaders.
Outcome: The rising was defeated, villages were burned and Parikshit was captured and imprisoned; the taxes were enforced.
A rising of the Reang under Ratanmani against assessment that fell more heavily on Reangs than on other communities, against the exactions of the chowdhuries who collected it, and against wartime increases and recruitment. Followers moved against the houses of the collecting headmen.
Outcome: Suppressed by the Maharaja's forces; villages were burned and large numbers were arrested. Ratanmani was killed. Most of the charges were later withdrawn.
People
| Name | Years | Movement | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|
| KirtiThe Tripura hills | active 1850 | The Tipra rising of 1850 | Led the refusal of the dewan Balaram Hazari's revenue collection alongside Parikshit. |
| ParikshitThe Tripura hills | active 1850–1863 | The Tipra rising of 1850 and the Jamatia rising of 1863 | Named in the record for both risings — the first against the dewan's revenue collection, the second, and much larger, against the titun carrying obligation and increased assessment.Captured after the rising of 1863 and imprisoned. |
| Ratan PoeaNorthern Tripura and the Sylhet frontier | active 1860–1862 | The Kuki rising of 1860–1862 | Led the refusal of Manikya authority on the northern frontier. The rising took the form of raids on plains and frontier villages in which villagers were killed, and it ended not in defeat but in the state's decision to pay rather than fight. |
| RatanmaniThe Reang country of the Tripura hills | died 1943 | The Reang rising of 1942–1943 | Led the Reang refusal of discriminatory assessment, of the exactions of the collecting chowdhuries and of wartime levies and recruitment.Killed during the suppression of the rising; his followers were arrested in large numbers and most charges were later withdrawn. |
| Jitendra Chandra PaulAgartala | 1914–2014 | The Indian national movement in the Bengali-speaking plains | Took part in the independence movement on the plains side of the region and was imprisoned for it. His later working life was in Bengali-language journalism at Agartala. |
People from Tripura Hills & Plains who resisted colonial rule, and the regional risings and revolts that shaped that resistance. (9)