Unakoti in Tripura, India, is known for its amazing Rock-cut faces dating back to the 11th century

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Unakoti, Rock-cut Shiva head
Tripura is one of the states in India that I have never visited, i have been wanting to visit Tripura for a long time because of some of the gems it houses.

Though not as tourist ready as other states, some of the places that we saw are indeed worth visiting. In our short five day trip, we managed to touch all the districts (we did a total of 930 km by road). The roads are quite well-maintained. If you plan to travel to Tripura, don't expect elaborate food menus and great hotels.You will get everything, but without frills. The lodges that we stayed in were basic. My favourite was the Belonia tourist lodge in South Tripura district.

On our first day, we headed straight to North Tripura towards Unakoti from the airport. We rented a car through an agent in Agartala who also booked the Government run lodges in the various places we visited.We arrived at Unakoti at 3.30 pm after covering a distance of 145 km. We wanted to see Unakoti in broad daylight, and managed to get an hour of daylight to see this amazing place! Because of the hilly terrain and the number of stairs, it may not be convenient for everyone to access all the sculptures, but you can see the main ones from a distance . 

 I am posting some pictures from Unakoti (which means one less than a crore in Bengali) which dates back to the 11 century AD.I have never seen anything like this before!  In fact, these rock-cut faces are considered to be the largest in India. The main Siva head is known as the Unakotiswara Kal Bhairava and is around 30 feet high.

Below is the write up about Unakoti from the ASI :



The combination of these massive rock-cut faces, the greenery, hills, and waterfalls made Unakoti a visual delight. I just loved it!


Entry point to Unakoti
The Central Shiva face 
More amazing faces carved out on the hills
Ganesha

Ganesha and other sculptures
Nandi bulls, Shiva's chariot

More faces
Sculptures on the hills
Interesting face
Is this an animal with a human head?
Dancing figures
Durga on the left side of the main Shiva
The surrounding areas


Three faces (Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwara ) enshrined as Linga
The main Shiva head  is about 30 feet high! This is how large the rock-cut sculptures are in Unakoti.

Sunset over Unakoti hills

Comments

Jyotirmoy Sarkar said…
Incredible works....
I love this architectural works a lot.
Did not know about this place ,thanks a lot for sharing with beautiful pics.
January 7, 2017 at 8:43 PM
Alok singhal said…
That's something I have never seen or read about...such gorgeous cuts. Glad you visited and brought these pics for us!
January 9, 2017 at 3:00 PM
Amit said…
You're indeed lucky! I have never visited the state, and have to remain content by reading articles and travelogues in magazines. I would suggest you to write a series on your Tripura travel, with separate posts on each of the sites that you visited there.
January 10, 2017 at 3:25 AM
Ranjana Jha said…
@Jyotirmoy, Thanks so much.
January 13, 2017 at 8:37 AM
Ranjana Jha said…
@Alok,

Thanks so much. I was unaware about this place as well. I came to know of this place from a friend who visited Tripura a couple of years back, I am so happy we included Unakoti in our agenda.
January 13, 2017 at 8:44 AM
Ranjana Jha said…
@Amit Misra,

Thanks so much Amit. This place is indeed amazing!
And I will take up your suggestion and write a series on my trip to Tripura:)


January 13, 2017 at 8:49 AM
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