Ujjayanta Palace

Ujjayanta Palace is the former royal palace of the Manikya kings of Tripura in the centre of Agartala, built between 1899 and 1901 by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya. Ujjayanta Palace replaced an earlier palace damaged in the great earthquake of 1897, and Rabindranath Tagore, a close friend of the Tripura royal family, is credited with giving it its name.

The palace is a two-storey building in the Indo-Saracenic style, with three large domes, a tiled floor, carved wooden ceilings and a white facade reflected in two ornamental lakes. The Manikya dynasty ruled Tripura for centuries until the state merged with India in 1949. After that, Ujjayanta Palace housed the Tripura Legislative Assembly until 2011, and in 2013 it opened as the Tripura State Museum, with galleries on the tribal communities of Tripura and the Northeast, the royal family, and the region's history and art.

What to see

• The white Indo-Saracenic facade with its three domes
• Mughal-style gardens, fountains and two ornamental lakes
• Museum galleries on the tribes of Tripura and the Northeast
• Royal objects, sculpture and coins of the Manikya kingdom
• The palace lit up in the evening

What to wear

Agartala is hot and humid from March to October, so wear loose cotton clothes, a hat and comfortable shoes for walking the gardens. Winters are mild with cool evenings. There is no strict dress code at the museum, but modest clothing is appreciated. Tripuri women wear the rignai, a woven wrap skirt, with the risa, a narrow cloth worn across the chest, and the handloom patterns of Tripura are among its best-known crafts.

Local food to try

Tripuri food uses little oil and a lot of fermented fish. Try mui borok, the general name for Tripuri dishes, especially berma (fermented fish) cooked with vegetables, chakhwi, a bamboo shoot stew, and wahan mosdeng, a spicy pork salad. Bengali food is also everywhere in Agartala, with fish curries, luchi and sweets. The streets around the palace have sweet shops and eateries, and vegetarian meals are easy to find.

Good to know

• Best time: October to March
• Museum usually open 10am to 5pm; closed Mondays and some public holidays
• Small entry fee; foreign visitors pay a higher rate, and camera fees may apply
• Allow one and a half to two hours
• In central Agartala, about 12 km from Agartala airport
• Photography inside galleries may be restricted; check at the ticket counter

Nearby places

From Agartala, Neermahal, the lake palace, is about 53 km south, and the rock carvings of Unakoti are about 180 km north. Guwahati and Kamakhya Temple are a short flight away for travellers continuing around the Northeast.