Lakshmi Narayan Temple

History

Tripura Tourism records that the Lakshmi Narayan Temple, dedicated to Laxminarayan, stands near the main entrance of Ujjayanta Palace and was built more than 100 years ago by Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya.

The palace it fronts was built by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya; Incredible India notes that the Tripura Government later bought it and that it now serves as the State Museum, telling the story of the Manikya dynasty that ruled Tripura for over a thousand years.

The temple sits in the palace compound at the corner of B.K. Road and Lakshmi Narayan Bari Road, a short walk from Jagannath Bari, so it is usually visited together with the palace.

Stories

A Temple at the Palace Gate

Tripura Tourism records that the Lakshmi Narayan Temple stands near the main entrance of Ujjayanta Palace in Agartala and was built more than a century ago by Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya. It is dedicated to Lakshmi and Narayan, that is, Vishnu.

Several Hindu temples occupy plots next to the palace, dedicated to Lakshmi Narayan, Uma-Maheshwari, Kali and Jagannath, so the compound is usually visited as a group.

The Palace Behind the Temple

The palace was built by Maharaja Radha Kishore Manikya between 1899 and 1901, after the earlier palace was devastated by the 1897 earthquake. It was designed by Sir Alexander Martin of the Martin and Burn Company in the Indo-Saracenic style.

It was the Manikyas' main residence until Tripura merged with India in 1949. The government bought it in 1972-73, and it housed the state legislature until 2011 and is now the state museum.

A Name From Tagore

The name Ujjayanta was given to the palace by the poet Rabindranath Tagore, according to accounts of its history. The palace has three large domes, the tallest about 26 metres high above a four-storied central tower.

Its museum holds sculptures, terracotta, coins and tribal collections, with the most distinctive pieces coming from Pilak, dating from the ninth to thirteenth centuries.

Good to know

Vishnu–Lakshmi shrine at Ujjayanta Palace main entrance

Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya-era foundation on state tourism

Short walk from Jagannath Bari in the same compound

Getting there

Agartala city centre, Ujjayanta Palace compound (Lakshmi Narayan Bari Road).