From Kamrup to Tripura: A Thousand-Year Bridge of Geography, Politics,culture and Language (Historical Relationship between Assam and Tripura)
Dr. Rajesh Bhattacharjee
September 24, 2026
If the history of Northeast India is imagined as a
river, then Assam and Tripura are two main streams of that river, which have
flowed side by side for many ages, sometimes meeting, sometimes moving on
separate paths, but never getting detached from each other. To understand the
relationship between these two territories, one must understand the
relationship of their languages, because language is the most living document
of a nation's history. The relationship between Assamese and Bengali is
therefore not just a relationship between two languages; it is a reflection of
the thousand-year political, cultural and emotional relationship between the
two states of Assam and Tripura.
Looking at history, the ancient identity of Assam
and Tripura originated from the same geographical concept. In ancient times,
the entire Northeast was called Pragjyotishpur and later the Kamrup Kingdom. In
the Kalika Purana, Yogini Tantra and Mahabharata, the extent of this Kamrup has
been shown up to Tripura. The Barman dynasty, Shalastambha dynasty and Pala
dynasty which ruled Kamrup from the 4th to the 12th century AD, according to
historians, had matrimonial and cultural relations with the ancient royal
dynasty of Tripura. The history of the Koch dynasty is the biggest bridge of
this relationship. The kingdom of Koch Maharaja Bishwa Singha and Naranarayan
once extended from Cooch Behar in the west to Nowgong in the east and to the
border of Tripura in the south.
From a linguistic point of view, Bengali and
Assamese are sisters. Both languages originated from the Apabhramsa of Magadhi
Prakrit. From the 7th to the 12th century, these two languages were known as
the same language, the evidence of which we find in the Charyapada. Later, for
political reasons, Bengali took a separate form centered on Gaur in the west
and Assamese centered on Kamrup in the east. But in the case of Tripura, the
history is different. The original language of Tripura is Kokborok, which
belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family, but Bengali has been used as the official
language of Tripura for almost five hundred years. Maharaja Dhanya Manikya and
the subsequent Manikya kings wrote their Rajmala, inscriptions and documents -
everything in Bengali.
Just as the Ahoms in the history of Assam created
Buranji literature, there was a similar tradition of writing history in
Tripura. In the Ahom language, the word 'Bu-Ran-Ji' means a storehouse of
unknown stories. It is called Tripura Buranji* - the history outside Rajmala.
Here comes the story of Arjun Das and Ratna Kandali*. According to Tripura
Buranji, Ratna Kandali was a scholar and writer who came from Kamrup and who
wrote the early history of Tripura.
Now if we come to a comparative discussion of
litterateurs, this historical relationship becomes even clearer. The foundation
of Assamese literature was laid by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev. There is a
wonderful similarity between his Ekasarana Dharma and Vaishnav movement in the
15th century and the movement of Sri Chaitanya Dev in Bengal.
In the modern era, the main bridge of these two
literary streams is Rabindranath Tagore. He visited Tripura seven times and his
Visarjan, Rajarshi and Mukut novels were written centered on the history of
Tripura.
After this literary bridge, the cultural bridge has
been created by two legendary artists - Dr. Bhupen Hazarika and Zubeen Garg.*
Bhupen Hazarika was not only the voice of Assam, but
of the entire Northeast. He came to Tripura many times. In the sixties and
seventies, his mass music programs in Agartala, Dharmanagar and Kailashahar
created an unprecedented unity between the Bengalis and the tribals of Tripura.
He said, "The quarrel between Assamese and Bengali is of the scholars, not
of the people." Hence his tour is called Cultural Healing.
Bhupen Hazarika's legacy is being carried forward
today by Zubeen Garg. He is the most popular Assamese artist among the present
generation of Tripura. He first came to Tripura in 2007, then in 2014, 2018,
2022, 2023 and finally in December 2024 at the Agartala Book Fair. His
specialty is that he sings in Assamese, Bengali and Kokborok on the same stage.
Bhupen Da's era was the era of radio, Zubeen's era is the era of YouTube and
Reels. His concert videos are shared together by the boys and girls of Tripura
and Assam, thus creating a digital bridge.
If we compare Tripura's own Bengali litterateurs, we
find ideological similarities with the litterateurs of Assam. Just as Padmanath
Gohain Baruah and Hemchandra Baruah in Assam wrote about social reform, in
Tripura too, Dasarath Deb, Sudhanya Debbarma, Alindralal Tripura and poet
Amalendu Bhattacharya wrote about tribal and Bengali harmony.
In conclusion, it can be said that starting from the
arrival of Arjun Das and Ratna Kandali, to Rajmala, Tripura Buranji,
Rabindranath's Rajarshi, Bhupen Hazarika's songs of humanity and Zubeen Garg's
stage - this continuum keeps the thousand-year relationship of language and
culture of Assam and Tripura alive even today.The assam Tripura Association and
its president Pulin Changmai along with Dr Asish kumar Baidya trying to keeping it up from their heart and soul
which is enlightened from history.
(Tripurainfo)
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