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The Tripura Buranji is an account of the diplomatic contacts between the Ahom kingdom and the Tripura Kingdom between 1709 and 1715. The Buranji was written in 1724 by the envoys of the Ahom kingdom, Ratna Kandali Sarma Kataki and Arjun Das Bairagi Kataki.[1][2] It describes three diplomatic missions that was sent to the Twipra kingdom, two return missions accompanied by Tripuri envoys, incidental descriptions of palaces, ceremonies and customs; and it also provides an eye witness account of the Twipra king Ratna Manikya II (1684–1712) deposed by his step-brother Ghanashyam Barthakur, later Mahendra Manikya (1712–1714).
This manuscript falls under the class of documents called Buranjis, a tradition of chronicle writing of the Ahom kingdom, of which there are two types—official and family.[3] The Tripura Buranji, along with Padshah Buranji, Kachari Buranji and Jaintia Buranji are official reports of neighboring kingdoms that the Ahom court sanctioned and maintained for record.[4] Surya Kumar Bhuyan, who had edited this as well as many other Buranjis, considered it to enjoy an exalted position among similar class of writings.[5]
Writers such as Chaudhuri and Sarkar consider the little-known document to be a significant source of extant events in Tripura.[6][7] Besides, as N K Bhattacharya avers, it is a remarkable example of pre-colonial travel writing among such other writings as Kalidasa's Meghadootam etc. that describes "the landscape, habits, dress, manners and beliefs of the people, deities and temples and the intrigues for the throne within the court of Tripura."[8]
- ^ "Tripura Buranji popularly known as Tripura Desar Kathar Lekha, the name by which the original manuscript is known bears testimony about the history of the region of a crucial period. We are fortunate that there is a Tripura Buranji written by Ratna Kandali and Arjundas Kataki." (Sarkar 2016:5)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "There are Tai-Ahom Buranji chronicles written primarily in a Tai language called Ahom, not spoken for some 200 years, and Assamese Buranji chronicles written in the living Indo-Aryan language of Assamese. ... According to Wichasin, there are two types of Tai-Ahom chronicles: official and family. The latter were begun in the sixteenth century A.D. The official type trace their genesis to the appearance of the Tai-Mau chieftain Sukapha and a band of some 10,000 followers in Sadyia, a point in the northern reaches of the Bhramaputra Valley in the reputed year of 1228 A.D" (Hartmann 2011:227–228)
- ^ "For, information about the rest of India and especially about the neighbouring regions, was eagerly sought after and faithfully recorded in the royally-approved histories like the Padshah Buranji, Kachari Buranji, Jaintia Buranji and the Tripura Buranji Visitors and messengers from the Ahom kingdom to other parts of India were'also required to write out detailed accounts of the government, administration and economy of the lands they visited." (Misra 1985:1558)
- ^ "Dr. Surjya Kumar Bhuyan described the book in the following words "on the whole 'Tripura Buranji' constitutes a distinct landmark in the history of Assamese prose and Assamese historical literature with regard both to its contents and expression, occupying a position far above the average Buranji." (Chaudhuri 2016:27)
- ^ (Chaudhuri 2016:26–27)
- ^ "The history of North East India is primarily based on a valuable document known as Buranjis. The historicity of the Buranjis cannot be underestimated. Tripura Buranji popularly known as Tripura Desar Kathar Lekha, the name by which the original manuscript is known bears testimony about the history of the region of a crucial period. We are fortunate that there is a Tripura Buranji written by Ratna Kandali and Arjundas Kataki. (Sarkar 2016:5)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
bhatta2003was invoked but never defined (see the help page).