Tripuris Roots Through Rajmala

 The Rajmala is one of the most critically reviewed and criticized book by different intellectuals in Tripura, whether or not he/she is qualified in the filed. It is heartening to note that almost all the reviewers or analyzers had been other that the Tripuri origin. This had led to misinterpretations of the kokborok words and terms used in the book and subsequently in understanding the Rajmala. History is his (winner's) story. It can be said by equalizing the definition of democracy given by the great American president Abraham Lincoln, as 'history is written by the winners of the winners for the winners.' The source of history in modern days basically are, of governments documents, of chroniclers of kings, writings of court Brahmins, the court poets, religious leaders, and the archeological findings etc. The historical documents written by those royal courts used to be biased or full of partialities in favor of the rulers. There was no independent circulation of news papers, or magazines in those days. Even the news papers reporter of present day are not beyond impartiality, as the news papers are also run by some individual who may have their own political affiliations, or some news papers are run by political parties. So we can find different versions of most of incidents, for example the recent Nandigram carnage.

That is why there is so much controversy regarding the interpretation of different historical events, for example the 1857 Sepoy mutiny of India. Till recently we were taught in history it as mutiny or insurgency, as the British raj had declared as it. But now the nationalist historians are defining the event as First Freedom movement of India. Some describes it as Jihad, some as black lash against imperial economic policies. The English and international historians still describe it as mutiny. The historical information of that times were not complete, accurate, exclusive and beyond doubt and debate. Many data, information are still to be unearthed. In the book on above event, The last Mughal, which was recently released by the writer, William Darlymple, had unveiled many hitherto unknown facts and information, which he researched for four years from the Persian & Urdu documents, news papers, excerpt etc, which had never been sourced. This book would definitely focus some light in many field of the mutiny and would invite to re-look in the history of the mutiny of 1857AD as we knew. In the case of Tripura's historical chronicle of kings, the Rajmala, the controversy or the issues concerning different fields can not remain with out debates, which dates back to abut four thousand years. The Rajmala is definitely not the complete history of Tripura, similarly no single chronicle of any dynasty or biography, books can be the complete history, be it Harsha Charit, Rajtarangini, Baburnama, Akbarnama, or Kautilya's Artha Shastra, it is only one source and complementary to other evidences.

 Analysis of Rajmala: Many historians had reviewed the Rajmala in different capacity. Some of them were English men, rest mostly Indian, of whom almost all are Bengali. The European scholars had reviewed the book, judged neutrally, but none had doubted about the authenticity of the chronicle, though it had been said that the chronicle is not devoid of facts mixed with fables, as it happened in most of such chronicle, whether it is the history of the Greeks or the Romans. Some of the Indian scholars had also not disputed about the genuineness of the chronicle though the histories beyond the middle age were not very clear. And this is so with most of the world's history. But most of the other Indian so called historians based on Tripura are in the fore run to disapprove the Rajmala altogether, deny the very existence of Tripura kingdom beyond few centuries. In recent times the reviews and research done on Rajmala seems to intimidate a section of people, to alienate the Tripuri people from their mother land and apparently seems it is done with vested interests and malevolent intentions. Such a move would have a disastrous and far reaching consequences in the history of Tripura and would under mine the credibility of historical research and study in Tripura vis-à-vis in India. The impartiality or neutrality of such study is not unquestionable of even in the mind of ordinary people. Two articles on Rajmala had appeared in the 'Gomati,'and 'Raima', by two prominent scholars. The article of 'Gomati'had been garnished in such a way that it was nauseating to decipher, what to mention the taste of the article. The etiquette and a minimum standard of writing an essay were not observed in the article. Such a quality of writing was not deserved atleast from a pen with doctorate degree holders.
 

There are lakhs of research done every year in different universities India, be it in history, geography, biology, or in the disciplines of economics, science, arts, literature, medicine, engineering, thousand and thousands of PhD are being awarded, but how many of them are genuine and original research? How many of those research papers get published in the international journals of respective fields? How many inventions have been made out of those technological researches? How many patents and copy rights have been made as a result of such research in the international arena of science and technology? It is meager as compare to the volume of the research done in India, what to talk of researches done in Tripura. Most of these researches done are called 'copy and paste'research, it has become easier these days because of revolution of information technology. Mr.Dalrymple said while being interviewed for his book, The Last Mughal that "Not a single PhD has been based in the Mutiny Papers. Not one!" On the other hand we find many books had been written, many more movies had been made on the mutiny of 1857 AD. And still we rushes to debate and disputes on the most upheaval events of Indian history!s

 Dr. Goswamy and Mr. Chakma had tried to prove the in-authenticity of Rajmala and origin of Tripuri people and their coming to present state of Tripura, by going from the present to the past. It is like walking backward to reach to a destination which is full of high hills, deep gorges, rivers and lakes, which is very difficult and a person will not be able to reach at all. To go to our destination we have to walk forward, go from dark to lighted room. Similarly we have to start from the past to know the present state of affairs. Here I would like to do the prospective study from the ancient time to the present.

 Tracing the Origin of Kiratas and Tripuri people:

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In Indus Valley civilization:
It is one of the four famous oldest civilizations of the world; among these it is only the Chinese civilization which is still continuing uninterruptedly. One of the most mysterious and the detail are yet to be unearthed is the Indus valley civilization. The scholars are divided as who were the people of the Indus, and who are the descendent of the lost civilizations in the present world. Most the researchers want to prove that the people of the Indus were from the race to which he/she belongs, and they want to convince to the world that they are the descendant of the one of the great civilization. So there are schools of thought who claim that it was the Dravidian civilization, which had been destroyed by the Aryan invasion, the other schools of thought is that which claims that there was no invasion of Aryan, rather Aryan civilization started in Indus valley, from where it spread to rest of the world. Not with standing any archaeological finding such vacant claims are being made to the contrary to the truth and scientific findings that there was no skull found from the above two groups of people from the excavation site.

Finding at Harappan excavation:
There were nine skull found suitable for anthropological study and measurement. Among them four belong to proto-australoid, two were of Mongoloid race, one Mediterranean, and alpine. The present day Indo-australoid, Santal, Kol, Bhil, Munda etc are the direct descendant of proto-australoid race, a branch of australoid/ Negroid, and present day's Indo-mongoloids living in different parts of the India are the direct descendant of the mongoloid race whose skulls remain have been found in the Harappan excavations. In spite of this evidence found buried in the lost civilization, the credit or legacy of that civilization have not been given to these great races descendants. What could be more tragedy and the prejudice in the deciphering the true history of lost civilization than this? There had been no able and bright sons born in the above two races to prove the history of the lost civilization which belonged to them. The due recognition and legacy had been denied to the people whose ancestors built such a rich and high level of civilizations, by citing reasons not plausible to science, circumventing different historical facts, anthropological findings, and circumstantial evidences. From the above facts it is found that the mongoloid race constituted 22 percent of the Indus people.

Finding in the Mohenjodaro:
One of the Mohenjodaro skulls had been definitely identified as Mongoloid and a terracotta figurine with unmistakable Mongoloid features having typical slopping narrow eyes of caricature of that type have been recovered from the lowest stratum of excavation. (M.K. Bhasin, Indologist) Now it can definitely be said, from the finding of above facts that Mongoloid were a partner in the Indus valley civilization. It is there fore now widely considered that the Indus civilization was a cosmopolitan in nature, rather than representing any particular race or groups of people.

Linguistic Evidences of living in the Indus valley regions:
Evidence through the name of Rivers: Along the line of the anthropological proofs at the site, there are also evidences of the facts that the Indus valley was inhabited by the Mongoloid race, that is the Kirata or the boro/borok race, of which the Tripuri, the Bodo are the direct descendant. The rivers on whose bank the civilization had flourished had earlier boro/k names, but the Aryan invader had then changed the names of those rivers to suit their tongue and their version of civilization. It is historically and linguistically proven fact that any river whose names either begins with ti/di or ends with ti/di is a river named by Boro/k race, who inhabited there either in present or distant past. The Indus valley civilization was based on five rivers; one was named Saraswati, which is now extinct due to change in the weather, which had no meaning in Indo-Aryan language other than claiming it to be goddess of learning in later Vedic/pauranic period. On the contrary it was clearly a borok race's word that comes from sarasa-ti> saraswati meaning clear water river. Mr. Cunningham in his study of the area inhabited by kuninda-kenet people found the presence of Sino-Tibetan, (Boro/k) and Austric (kol) elements in the name of rivers and other physical feature. The 'Ravi river'was earlier Rawa-ti, 'Bias river'was Nyang-ti, 'satlez'-Zong-ti, (Vedic name Satur-di) 'Para river'was Para-ti. The Indus river which is Sindhu in Sanskrit, seems to have originated came from the chin (China>sino in Greek) chin-ti>sindi>sindu. One of the river in Rajasthan Gomati>Gumti is Boro/k origin, similarly the Tawi river on which Jammu city situated Tawi>twi and the Tapti>tap-ti are of Boro/k origin. The rivers name in boro/k languages is a clear evidence of Mongoloid peoples'inhabitation in the past in that area. It again proves that the boro/k people were a stake holder of Indus valley civilization. It may be compared with the rivers of the south Indian, where not a single river's name either begins or ends with the ti/di, whether in the present or the past, which had never been inhabited with the Mongoloid race's boro/k people.

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Evidence through the places names:
There are many places in the north India and sub-Himalayan area whose names are indication that the area had once been inhabited by the Indo-mongoloid races 'Bodo/borok'branch. There was a city of Kiradu, now ruins, with its 27 temple in the western border of Rajasthan near the Indus civilization site. It means that the city was inhabited and founded by Kirata people. There was also a hamlet named 'hathma'or 'hatma'meaning wide land in Tripuri language, suggestive of Boro/k people's inhabitation in the Indus valley region. Long ago when Bongshi Thakur traveled through the sub-Himalayan valley he noted many places name, upon hearing so he was stumbled upon. One such name was 'Khumulung'. Similarly the famous Khumbu valley of Himachal Pradesh indicates that it was once the area of Boro people. The famous dam constructed in the Tehri of Uttanchal Pradesh originated from the 'tiari'>tehri, a Tripuri word, meaning the wide water body in the river. Likewise 'dehradoon'from 'ti-ra'>dera means dry, 'dung'>doon means valley, famous water fall of Mossurie Kampti derived from 'kapti'>Kampti, and Tarai have derived from Bodo word ti-rai etc. Some scholars are of the view that Delhi is derivative of 'ti-lili'>dilli>dehli, meaning slow water. If further research is done on the source of various places of sub-Himalayan and northern India, many such names will be discovered to prove that it was once inhabited by Mongoloid's Boro/k people. That is why Dr. S. K. Chatterjee stated that there was quite possible that an Indo-Mongoloid people were present even in north-eastern Punjab.

 Reference in Veda and other mythology and ancient epics:
Rajmala mentions that Tripuri used to be known as Kirata in older times. Kirata had been mentioned in the Yajur and Atharva Veda. Similarly the Kirata had been mentioned along with Huna, Andhra, Pulinda, Pulkasa, Abhira, Sumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races in Srimad Bhagavatam. The Kirats had been described as golden yellow people which are the skin color of modern Tripuri, though over the thousand of year of living in present Tripura the colour had changed more yellow to brown. Mr. Hari Krishan Mittoo mentioned in his book Himachal Pradesh, '..during pre-Vedic times there were Kirata in lower Shivaliks whose king Shambar fought against the aryan  king, Divodas, the Kiratas were well-organized, society with law and order system. The war between Divoda-Shambar lasted for forty years and has been described in Rig-Veda by Vashistha and Vamadeva. There were total defeat of Kirata and destruction of forts.'The Aryan invaders had always used derogative terms to their enemy, like Dasas, Danab, Rakshas, Dassyus, and Ashura etc. Those who surrendered to the Aryan invasion had been termed as dasa, danava, or such other name where as the Kirats who did not surrender to Aryan supremacy had been defined as 'dassyu'or bandits as the Kirats waged the war with the Aryan in guerilla technique. The Kirata would come from the jungle or hills of Himalaya to attack them and would go back like the Kukis did to the Tripura kingdom in the past; they would loot and rob off the Tripuri villages with all the domestic animals, paddy and other valuable belonging in the past. The Kiratas is mentioned in the Ramayan in Ayodha kanda's sarga 15 section, with their hair tied up in knots, shining like gold and pleasant to look upon, bold enough to move under water, terrible, veritable tiger-men, so are they famed. Similarly Kirata tribe was mentioned in Mahabharata on the Vanaparva section 39. The most skill full archer of that time Eklabya was none than a Kirata, Bhima's wife Hadimba was a Kirata women and Ghototkoch of Mahabharata was a Kirata king, apart from the facts mentioned in the Rajmala that Tripuri king Trilochana had participated in the mythological Kurukshetra war. These facts invariable indicate that when Aryan invaded Indus valley they had come in close contact with the Kirata or Bodo race. It further reaffirms the hypothesis that Tripuris ancestors, the Kirat were also partners of the Indus civilization. There fore from the above facts it can be said with certainty that the Kirata who are the fore father of Tripuri people vis-à-vis great Bodo were present in the Indus valley area and sub-Himalayan region from the pre-Vedic time.

 Proof of Living with Proto-australoid race:
It is no doubt a fact that the proto-australoid are also a partner of the Indus valley civilization, and the Mongoloid are the other contender of the said civilizations heritages, as proved by archeological finding of skull of Mongoloid race along with the Proto-australoid skulls from the Harappan and Mohenjodaro. Besides the skull finding there were also linguistic evidences of Boro/k people's close association and inter action with the proto-australoid people. The modern Kol, Bhil, Santal etc. Indo-australoid people are the descendant of proto-australoid race in India. The two races are ethnically from different stock, there should not have similarity in their words. But on the contrary there are many words which are very much similar to each other, proving that these two races had lived together in the past during Indus period. Santhal are the largest group among the Indo-australoid race in India. Some of the examples of similarities are given bellow:

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 Religious & Cultural Similarity: It is not only the linguistic similarity; there is also similarity in the religious and cultural arena. The most widely celebrated Goria puja by Tripuri people has a similarity with the Santhal and Bodo as well. Tripuris celebrate the Goria from the first of the Tripura New Year, the Bodos celebrate Gorja and the Munda celebrate Goreya almost in the same way.

Pashupati of Harappan and Sibrai:
The image of Pashupati or the lord of animals and subsequent transformation into lord Shiva is one and the same. The horn of the Pashupati is that of buffalo one which is semi-circled. Cow was brought by the Aryan nomadic tribes, so the head horn of Pashupati can not be expected to be that of cow at any arguments. According to the Tripuri mythology Sibrai or Subrai is lord Shiva, whose carrier is buffalo. The Tripuri considers the buffalo as mightier, courageous, and intelligent domestic animal, in fact that the buffalos would protect and save the cowboy from the attack of tigers in the jungle. It is seen that even the lions of the African jungle do not dare to attack the buffalo herd. On the contrary bull is considered as cowered, meek, fool animal, that is why in Tripuri whenever any person is scolded and abused, he is compared as cow in stead of donkey. That is why buffalo is named in Tripuri as misib (mo-animal, sib-shiva) meaning bearer or animal of Shiva. It was only in the latter stage by the brahminical influence buffalo has been replaced by ox. Mr. Sharat Chandra Das's collection the Journal and text of the Buddhist society of India volume I part-III mentioned that '..the carrier of our Mahadev is ox but the carrier of Mahadev of Tibet people is buffalo..'. The above statement clearly proves that originally buffalo was the carrier of lord Shiva. The word Sibrai in Tripuri derived from siba-rai, siba origined from si+ba, meaning he who is knows the secret of five elements of life that is earth, water, fire, air and sky. This Sibrai became to Shiva by brahminical influence. Shiva is termed as Kirata in purana, in Mahabharata it is mentioned that Shiva appeared before Arjuna as Kirata. Rangalal Bannerjee on is article 'Identification of Aboriginal Tribes'said that "His  (Shiva) residence in the far Kalyasa, his braided hair, his oblique eyes, his great proclivity for smoking, his reputed authorship of tantrika, nasal monosyllabic mantras go far to prove him to be a Mongolian rather than Aryan type.'One of the thousand names of Shiva is Tripurari. According to mythology or puran this name was so given from the fact that he is enemy of thee world, but it is strange how a creator savior god can be enemy of the all the world? On the other hand according to Tripuri mythology the meaning of Tripurari is a logical which means enemy of Tripur. According to Rajmala and the Tripuri mythology Shiva killed king Tripur, so is the name given for. There is no doubt that Shiva is the transformed of Pashupati of Indus civilization, which proved that the Kirata were also stake holder of Indus civilization.

The Kiratas migration to Indus civilization and India:
The general geographical condition and the population of that time can not be compared with that of present India. It was estimated that the population of Harappan and Mohenjodaro was roughly 40,000. Though generally accepted facts about the entry route of Kirata people is considered to be through Nepal and Assam, but the findings of archeological remains at the Indus valley site and the general route migration of all the human race to India being Hindu kush, the Kirata had also migrated in the Indus valley via the Hindu kush, and settled in the Indus valley along with the other proto-australoid people. They brought along with them the paddy or rice which was the cereals of Indus civilization, that why it is still pronounces as 'chawol'in most of the Indo-Aryan languages clearly indicating originating from China. It was none other than Kirata to bring paddy to India, which was first discovered & cultivated in China. The Kirata were the ruler of the Indus civilization, though the majority subject was from other stock. The undefeatable, ferocious, ruthless bandit nature of the Mongoloid race had made them the ruler of the Indus valley civilization. It can be gauged from the instances like Genghis khan, Kublai khan had ruled more than half of the world. The Mughal ruled almost whole of India for the longest period of time. The subject need not be the same ethnic race as that of ruler, as it was also with Tripura kingdom whose boundary was once extended up to Padma river, and whose majority of the subjects were Bengali speaking people. It is not necessary that the ruler race should be skilled in brick making or building palace, which they should not be also, as their duty was to protect the subjects from the enemy and invaders, not to build the building and make bricks. The palaces of Tripura kings from the Barak valley via Udaipur, Amarpur to present day Agartala had always been built and constructed by the architects, engineers and labourer other than by Tripuri people. Similarly the buildings of Indus valley were built by the other people of the civilization.

The Aryan invasion of Indus valley was a land mark in the ancient history of Indian. They were nomadic tribes, who came riding horse, which was hitherto unknown to the Indus valley people and the ruler, Kirata. They, being armed with better iron made weapon and the faster mode of transportation like horse had added advantage, could eventually able to defeat the people of Indus valley. In the war between the Aryan and non-Aryan, it is presumed that three fourth of the original inhabitant were. The non-Aryans were forced to gradually migrate to south and eastern part of country, away from the Indus valley. The Dravidians people migrated towards the south, the Indo-australoid towards the south east, and the Indo-Mongoloid Kirata migrated towards north and north east. Finally the Dravidians settled in the southern most part of India, bordering the sea, the Indo-australoid to central, eastern and south eastern, and the Mongoloids in the north and north east part of India. If the Dravidians ultimate settlement at the southern most part of India and the Indo-australoid people settling in central & south eastern India, migrating out of the Indus valley could be explained, then there should be no difficulty to explain the theory of Kirata people migrating out of the Indus valley to finally settle at north east of India.

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Route of Kirata migration to the north-east:
The meaning of Kirata in ancient Sanskrit is hunter people, so it means that Kirata used to live in jungle and in the hill, which was nothing but the sub Himalayan and Himalaya in this part of India. In Mahabharata, Arjun fought with the Kirata king in the Himalayan jungle. Bhima's son by the wife Hadimba, Ghototkoch was a Kirata chieftain in a Himalayan kingdom. The Hadimba temple still bears the testimony of the Mahabharata legend in Manali town of Himachal Pradesh. The Kochs are the descendant from this king Ghototkotch, whose king ruled whole of Assam and built the famous Kamakhya temple in 12^th century. There were many rivers and places in the sub-Himalayan region whose name stills exist in Tripuri language, which had been mentioned earlier. There is also an ethnic evidence of Tripuri people having lived in the northern India, at Himalayan region. There are about 6935 people whose mother tongue is Tripuri, who are living in the Pithoragarh district of Uttaranchal as mentioned in the census report of 1991, which now stands about 12500. On analysis it was found that these are the Rung people whose language had been clubbed with Riang dialect of Tripuri language. It is strange to note that the tribes themselves describe as Rungsa, which clearly resembles with the Riangsa tribe of Tripuri people. Subsequent to migration out of the Indus valley, the Kirata people gradually moved to the north and eastern side through the Rajasthan, Punjab, north India, Tawi river valley of Jammu, Dehradoon valley, Tehri region, Almorah, Pithoragarh, the Tarai sub Himalayan region, the Tista valley, the Tursa valley, the Terai river valley of north Bengal, and the Lohitya (lou-ti>Lohitya, in Puranic time means long river in Bodo) valley which is known as Brahmaputra at present. While migrating in this route many sub-tribes were left in the ways who are now residing in different places of Himalayan regions as branch of Indo-Mongoloid. One branch of the Indo-Mongoloid again migrated farther south and east towards the present Kachar of Assam, where the testimony of the Tripuri peoples settlement the Barak river (borok>borak) is still flowing with its might. There are many remnants of erstwhile Tripuri kings in the Barak valley, in the name of places, river or the ruined palaces. It is from here that the kings of Tripura migrated for the final and last time to the present state of Tripura, whose boundary once extended up to the eastern bank of Ganga to the shore of bay of Bengal. On the way of migration, the Kirata had left not only the names of rivers and places but also some of their cousins in every region. Whether it is Kinnor tribes (now a mixed race with Austric), the Rung community, the Shouka tribes at Pithoragarh, the Koch of Koch Bihar and north Bengal, the Bodo at the Bodo land, the Chutiyas, the Tiwas, in north east Assam, the Dimasa in Dimapur, the Kachari in Kachar district of Assam are all descendants of Boro/k tribes.

 Location of Tripura in ancient time:
The geographical location of the Tripura kingdom was not definitely in the present place as it was mentioned in most of the ancient texts. Some are of the opinion that the Tribeg mentioned in Rajmala was the present day Triveni sangam; there is reason to believe it. One of the Buddha's sculpture found in the Mathura was of Mongoloid race, indicating that once upon a time the Mathura or the near by of Triveni used to be inhabited by Indo-Mongoloid people. There are many evidences which had been cited earlier to suggest that the ancient Tripura kingdom must have been some where in the sub Himalayan area. It was most provably beside the kingdom of Ghototkoch king whose capital might have been some where at Kulu Manali area of Himachal Pradesh. There is a temple called 'Tripura Sundari'in Kulu town of Himachal Pradesh, which may have been once founded by of Tripuri kings over there. The royal chronicle of Kashmir, Rajtarangini also mentions that one of prince married with the Bodo Princes, which also through light towards the existence of Tripuri kingdom and Koch kingdom some where in north India. This will corroborate with the listing of Tripura kingdom in Mahabharata, the facts of the Rajmala, of the Kalidasa's novel and with the anthropological and linguistic evidences found in the region. Further detail research of such historical & religious monuments along the mythology may unveil ancient location of Tripura kingdom. When the people of the state had migrated the name of the kingdom would also follow along with the people to reach to the present geographical positions. Such practice is commonly found even in Tripura, where more than one villages of the same name are found to exist, by way of migration of people from the original village. But when all the people will leave particular place, eventually the state's previous name will cease to exist and new places name will be assigned with the old name.

Time of Tripuri people's migration in the Present location:
It will be difficult to precisely point out on which date the Tripuri had come to present state of Tripura, but it will not be impossible to find a provable time. Rajmala mentions that it was king Jujaru Pha who left the Kholongma capital and left towards south and invaded the Lika kings of Rangamati area. He was the 118^th in the list of Tripuri kings from the king Chandra, 66 generations away from the last king Bir Bikram as per the Rajmala. If the standard average life of king 25 years is taken, than it must have been some where around 1600 years back, which is in 6^th century CE. One of the pioneers in the research of Tripuri language, Mr. K.K. Chowdhury had estimated by the Glotto-chronological method that the Tripuri language was separated from their Dimasa cousin around 1400 years back. The stone sculptures of the 'Subrai Khung'or the Unokuti and Devta Mura are some of the finest examples of monumental and architectural achievement of Tripuri people. In the centenary souvenir Ujjayanta, Mr. Bijoy Kumar Debbarman in his article Pratnatatwik Patbhumite Tripura, had estimated that the age of stone curving of the Subrai Khung to be around 7^th century CE. One of the stone curving of Goddess Durga found in the Devta Mura was with traditional Rignai of Tripuri woman, which proves that it was the creation of Tripuri people. So it can be estimated from the sculpture finding at Devta Mura and Subrai Khung that the Tripuri people had migrated to the present state some where between 1400-1600 years ago. Dr. S. K. Chatterjee stated in his Kirat Jana Kriti that when the Chinese traveler Hiuyen Tsang arrived in the Kamrupa, a Bodo kingdom in the 7^th century, he was welcomed at the royal court of Bhaskar Barman by Bodo songs. In his famous book the ODBL, he quoted Hiuyen Tsang's description about the north eastern India, 'The people of Kamrupa were simple and honest in manners, were small stature, with dark yellow complexion. Hiuyen Tsang remarked that the tribes living in the frontiers of Kamrupa were akin to the Man tribes of south western China, a wild Tibeto-Chinese people.'These tribes were none other than the Tibeto-Chinese Tripuri people of present states of Tripura, which was in the border of Kamrupa at that period of time. Another proof of migration of Tripuri people to the present location of Tripura kingdom some 1400 years back is the Tripura Era which was founded by Jujharu Pha, is currently running 1416 TE. There fore from the above evidences, it can be fairly concluded that the Tripuri people came to the present state some where between 6^th and 7^th century CE.

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Sanskritisation of Boro/k words & names:
In the history and ancient scripture many outstanding Mongoloid personalities'name had been Sanskritised during the great synthesis of Indian culture and religion and converted them to Aryan. We have till recently been convinced that the Kushan dynasty whose famous king founded the Saka era was an Aryan, till it was challenged and rectified by Chinese, Iranian and other international society of historians. In fact the Kushanas were Mongoloid nomadic sub tribes of Yueh-chi tribe form central Asian frontier of China, which had been sanskritised from Kuei-shang>Kushan. The mightiest Mughal dynasty's founder Babur through her mother was also a Mongol, (Persian Mughal) descendent from Genghis Khan's son Chaghatai. But general perception is that of Aryan descendant, on the contrary Babur him self take the pride of and claims as Mongol, so the dynasty is called. The Non-Aryan priest Sukracharya was a Kirata, who is still considered as the greatest of all priest by Tripuri people, it had been Sanskritised from Sukrai ochai>Sukracharya. Ratnakar dassyu (Valmiki) and the Angulimal dassyu were also from Kirata or Mongoloid origin. King Yayati had two wives who are not of Aryan race but Mongoloid races, namely Kirata priest Sukracharya's daughter Devyani and dassyu king Vrishaparva's daughter Sharmistha, clearly indicating that Yayati was also a non-Aryan king. The characters of Mahabharata are doubtfully Aryan nature. The names like Kunti, Drupadi were likely to have been Aryanised from Bodo name like Kungti, Durupti, such names ending with ti are very common among Tripuri women even in present day, like Khumbati, Tokhiti, Pungkhiti, Kosomti, Kwchakti etc. and many more. Not only the name but the character and their customs are akin to Mongoloid rather than Aryan. For example the unmarried mother was not probable among the highly cultured and religious Aryan girl which Kunti, had her son Karna, similarly polyandry among five Pandavas with Drupadi was most unlikely with the Aryan culture and tradition. Similarly the drinking of blood of the enemy by Bhima is not suggestive of highly civilized Aryan character. Bhima also had his wife Hadimba, who was considered as Kirata girl. Arjun was once found in the Kirata dress and in Kirata disguise while praying for Shiva and his marriage with Manipuri princes are also suggestive that he was none but Kirata. The Pandavas, after the Kurukshetra war, went to the Himalaya is again in favour of they being Mongoloid tribe, who lived in the sub-Himalayan region, though it is said that they went to heaven through Himalaya. The very theory of Aryan race to whole of the Mahabharata is not beyond reasonable doubt and historically undisputed. So, in the paradoxical situations like these, it is very difficult to categorically designate those mythological personalities mentioned in different epics, puranic and religious texts were all as Aryan, with out confirming scientifically beyond any doubt. Till than Tripuri and other Indo-Mongoloid, Kirata descendant have the right and rational to claim as descendant of some of mythological personalities.

Hijacking of Kirata Religion and Cultural practice:
The religious practice and the cultural traditions of the Kirata people have been hijacked by the brahminical influence. The god and goddess who had been originally brought and conceived by the Aryan which they brought with them had been almost totally abandoned. Indra, Varun, Agni, Brahma, Vrihaspati, Narada, and many more gods are no more worshipped in India, in that place the Kirata god Shiva, his wife and their children are aryanised and worshipped, who are none but the primitive tribal gods of Kirata people in different name. Their culture had also changed from their counter part of central Asian and European cousins. It would be very difficult rather impossible for the descendant of Kirata people to convince the preconceived public that Valmiki was of Kirata origin, that Shiva was a Kirata God so also the Parvati, Durga or Kali the consort of shiva were none other than Kirata origin. What to speak such a far history, the present Tipra ama of Udaipur had been translated to Tripureshwari, some even wanted to designate as Kali. Though, the temple was founded around 500 years back, it was included in the Purana as part of Kali's 51 pitha, which supposedly happen 3500 years back!  The Fourteen gods of Tripuri people had all been included and translated as brahminical Hindu gods, though it is still worshipped by royal priest Chantai! Similarly Lord Buddha, whose fame spread all over the world was also a Boro/k descendant. In fact he was the greatest Boro/k born in this earth, though it had been hijacked as Aryan people. Dr. S.K. Chatterjee considers Buddha was born on Kirata race. Anthropologist Dr. Pashupati Mahato had proved by that Lord Buddha was none other than Boro/k tribes. Similarly many international historians consider Buddha to be an Indo-Mongoloid origin, rather than Aryan. But this true but unpalatable fact is indigestible to the historian of Tripura vis-à-vis India.

The Origin of Chandra dynasty:
Most of the tribes, in that matter every ethnic group believe that they have originated from some natural objects, animal or astronomical objects, some time this belief turns out to a totem. The Greek people believed that man came from Mars and woman from Venus. Mr. Jogesh Das in his book Folklore of Assam mentioned that the Mishing tribes (they are among the plain tribes of Assam) believe that they have originated from the moon and sun, to them moon is god and sun is goddess. Similarly we are bound to recall such simple belief of Aryan notion of Chandravamsa and Suryavamsa. The Tripuri people and the royal lineage also believe that they are the descendent of mythological lunar king Chandra, through Druhya and it was not unusual to imagine or claim. To trace whether Chandra was Aryan or Mongoloid, we have to go back to the era of Aryan nomadic invasion of Indus valley. It is archeological fact that the Kiratas were part of the Indus valley civilization. It is also a historical fact that the Kiratas came from China. The word for 'we'in Tripuri, Bodo and other Kirata language is 'chwng'to meaning Chinese. The general rule of making plural number of noun and pronouns in Tripuri language is just suffix –rok, for example, tok(bird) tokrok, bo(he) bohrok(they), nwng (you) norok(you plural) but for pronoun ang(I) it does not become 'angrok'but 'chwng'. The general rule of making plural number is not applicable here, to mean that 'we'is synonymous with Chinese. From 'chwng'derived 'chwngtor'to meaning 'maha-chin'or great China people. The Kirata people would identify and trace their roots to this 'chwngtor'which in latter stage after Aryan invasion and with close inter action got Sanskritised and became chwngtor> changdar>Chandra. So it was this Chandra, whose original meaning had been changed to lunar, from which the Tripuri kings traces their roots. The Rajmala critics consider the Rajputs and other Kshatriya of northern India are the descendants of Chandra or lunar dynasty in stead of Tripuri people, is other wise not tenable by historical facts. According to the mythology and other scripture king Chandra is suppose to have reigned between 1500 and 2000 BC, because the Aryan invaded Indus valley around 1900 BCE, the Mahabharata is suppose to have occurred at least 1000 BC. On the other side, the Rajputs as we know today are descendent of Scythic tribes, who came from central Asia and invaded India around 500 BC. Mulchand Chauhan, in the book of 'Scythic origin of Rajputs Race'stated taking the reference of ethnographer Col Tod "It is a singular fact that there is no available date beyond the 4th century for any of the great Rajput families, all of whom are brought from the North. This was the period of one of the grand irruptions of the Getic races from Central Asia-'. So the present Rajputs of Rajasthan and other Kshatriya can not be the descendant of Chandra whose ancestors came to India around 500 BC only. On the contrary the ancestor of Tripuri king, Chandra who was there at around 2000 BCE, to be a Kirata king is plausible from the evidences and the historical facts avail able with us.

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 Tripuri kings are from Lunar Dynasty:
There is no fact against the Tripuri people claiming descendant lunar race, Chandra of Vedic fame. None of the English writers had ever doubted about its authenticity, on the contrary there are also no undisputed scientifically proved evidences that the Chandra was Aryan race. The Bengalis, though mostly claims the pride of Aryan race are not so. On the other contrary, history, anthropology, ethnological proves that in the veins of Bengali flows the blood of Dravidian, Indo-Austric and Mongoloid people. The famous Indologist, linguist S.K Chatterjee in his ODBL stated that '..with the concurrence of A. C. Haddon, as forming one of the elements in the Gujarati, Maratha, Kodagu, Kannada, Telegu, Oriya, Bengali and Bihari peoples might never have been Aryan speakers... Again, there is not the slightest tradition in Bengal favouring the assumption of migration of Aryan from western India or Gujarat into Bengal and Bihar.'That is to say it is only the language in which Bengali speaks is Indo-European or Sanskrit derivatives, not otherwise as racially or ethnically. If the mother tongue only determines the race of an ethnic group, than, by the same standard, the Ahoms, & Rajbongshis of Assam, the Chakmas, Hajongs, etc whose mother tongues are Sanskrit derivatives who are other wise racially Mongoloid, would be Aryan as much as the Bengali are, and to the same yard stick the royal blood of Tripuri people would also be Aryan, who have off late made Bengali as their mother tongue! In that case there should not be any hurdle to pass the theory that the royal lineage of Tripura are of lunar dynasty!! As per the Rajmala the Tripuris are descendent of Chandra Vamsha, through Druhya, the son of Yayati. Now let's analyse the mythology of origin of Tripuri people. The non-aryan king Vrishaparva was none other Kirata people. In such back ground a supposedly high blooded king of Aryan race, Yayati was not expected to fall in love with the daughter of Kirata and to subsequently fall in love again, married secretly with Kirata princes Sharmistha. Other wise also even if Yayati was an Aryan, (even by name looks mostly of Kirata name's derivative) but as Sharmishtha was a non-aryan dassyu, Kirata, whose son is Druhya, so also the Tripuri would be atleast half blood Chandra Vamsha. Druhya was deported towards the south east of Yayati's kingdom which was most likely at present Punjab, from that place the Tripura is situated to that direction. A narrow thinking, a narrow means to disown one from its ancestors, an impious force to uproot some one from their roots should not prevail over the truth and humanity. After all of us belong to one race of homo sapiens, the father of all human beings.

 Obverse History:
It may be very difficult to believe and digest these facts the religious practice of India is nothing but modified version of Indo-Mongoloid people's religion, that there were many great people born in the Kirata who had influenced the religious and cultural scenario of India. Now I do the prospective evaluation of future history. In the year 1901 CE, the population percentage of different communities in Tripura were viz. Tripuri and other indigenous people 52.9%, the Muslim Bengali 25.74%, the Hindu Bengali 9.1%, and the Manipuri 7.64%. Just after 100 years apart the percentage of different communities as per the census report of 2001 CE stands as follows, Tripuri and other indigenous people 31.1%, the Muslim Bengali 8%, the Hindu Bengali 60%, the Manipuri 0.71%. Now can we even imagine what will be the population percentage of different communities after four thousand years? Will we then be in this land or driven out further away to an unseen land? The names of many villages, rivers, hills, places of Tripura have been changed and transformed to such an extent that no one would assume that it was once a kingdom of Tripuri people. There are endless examples; just tip of the ice berg follows here. The Twi-risa kami became Trisha bari, Mandwi became Mandai, Bala town now became Khowai, Chichiri became Chebri and the list goes one. Similarly the Saidra river became Howra, Gumti become Gomati, Twisa Rangchak became Sonachhara and the list goes on. In the wildest of the dream people will be unable to conceive that these were of Tripuri origin and name in just 50 years before. Among the most famous music directors of modern times are no doubt Sachin and Rahul Devburman, the father-son duo. Their popularity may be judged by the numbers of their music remixed and remade which may account more that 90% of the total of all old music remixed till date. But how many of general public of India are aware of their origin? They are considered as Bengali by the media and public at large, with some genuinely aware people who know them as descendant of Tripuri royal dynasty. And how many of ordinary Tripuri people are also aware and consider of them as Tripuri? I doubt very it will very few. Now I carry these facts forward for two thousand to four thousand years from now, though we can not even imagine of such long years ahead. Will any one believe then that parson of Tripuri origin went four thousand KM away from Tripura to Bombay, composed such famous and melodious music for four hundred odd Hindi films, whose cousins at home could hardly speak a even a standard Bengali! Would any one would even guess that there ever existed a group of people named Tripuri, whose ancestors ruled for atleast five hundreds (as per critics'estimates)? Where would vanish the map, name of villages, rivers, and the state of Tripura, can we think? No not at all. The name that exists to day may get altogether new name like Tribanga, Prachyabanga, or may be submerged under sea or under the debris of earth quake or in any other unimaginable name whose citizen would then be none other than the Tripuri! So called self rule seekers by guns would be become a mythological demons of present day like dassyu, raksahas, who would be described as 'bairi''ugrabadi''ugrapanthi''atankbadi''terrorist', the greater autonomy supporter by democratic means would be labeled as 'upajati''pahari''janjati''giribasi'or'tribal', in the written story Tripura, that would be found after 4000 years, as the Veda terms to Mongoloid people of Indus valley times as Kirata, dassyu etc.

Conclusion:
We must look at the present ethnic distribution of India in the anthropologically and   scientifically proved perspective rather than driven by ego attached with superiority syndrome of inferiority complex minded attitude. False pride for any particular race and intentional prejudice against any particular race or ethnic group will not be conducive for the peace full co-existence in the multi racial, multi ethnic, multi lingual and multi religious society of India. We must keep in mind the great philosopher Tagore's definition of Indian which constitutes of Shak Hun Dal Pathan Mughal, Arya, Anarya, Chin. Famous Indologist, linguist S.K. Chatterjee that is how revealed that, '..the Synthesis of Culture and Fusion of Races that took place in India-a synthesis which had started in prehistoric times when two distinct races found they were to reside together in the same country-the Austric and the Mongoloid, the Dravidian and the Austric, the Dravidian and the Mongoloid. …The Indian man as the result of the fusion of the Aryan and Dravidian, Mongoloid, and Austric came into being at the end of the Vedic period (i.e. by 1000BCE).'And we have to accept this true fact whether or not we want to believe it if we desire to live as in India.

 Bibliography:
1)      Rajmala, Kali Prasanna Sen.
2)      Ujjayanta, Centenary Souvenir Palace.
3)      Folklore of Assam, Jogesh Das.
4)      Uttaranchal ke Adivasi, Devendra Upadhyay.
5)      Bodo and Tripuri Word, Maheshwar Narjari.
6)      The Bodo, Mouth piece of Bodo Sahitya Sabha-2002.
7)      ODBL, S.K. Chatterjee
8)      Kirata Jana-kriti, S.K. Chatterjee.
9)      Kokborok Lipi Bitorko.
10)  Census Report of Tripura 1901.
11)  Census of India 1991, Language Series1.
12)  Census Report 2001.
13)  We Tamil, P. Sangrapillai.
14)   Austric Civilization of India, Nityananda Hembram.
15)  Yakhwtwng-2000, Souvenir.
16)  Himachal Pradesh, Hari Krishna Mittoo.
17)  Brahmaputra, Arup Kumar Dutta.
18)  Brunch: Oct-15 2006.

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