Jankriti International Magazine/ जनकृसत अंतरराष्ट्रीय पसिका
love to celebrate their own festivals and
enjoy the festivity of others too. Each
festival comes with an energetic fervour
and lots of entertainment. These ethnic
components are so colourful that people
outside the tribal communities, including
research scholars will have immense
interest to know about the tribal culture of
Tripura. There are 19 tribes in Tripura
namely, (1) Tripuri ,(2) Reang, (3) Jamatia
,(4) Chakma, (5) Lusai, (6) Mog ,(7) Garo,
(8) Kuki, (9) Chaimal, (10) Uchai, (11)
Halam, (12) Khasia, (13) Bhutia, (14)
Munda, (15) Orang, (16) Lepcha , (17)
Santal, (18) Bhil, (19) Noatia.
Tripuri are treated as one of the major
tribes of Tripura.
Tripuri community
The Tripuris are the largest tribal
community in Tripura. They are also found
in significant numbers in neighbouring
Bangladesh, having similar Culture and
language. The Tripuris , who are spread all
over the civil subdivisions of Tripura, lived
mainly on the slopes of hills in a group of
five to fifty families. They lived in a
specially built bamboo house raised two to
five feet from the ground. The height of the
house was considered to be a protection
against the depredations by wild animals.
This house known is known as “ Gairing”
where they now rarely live.
Religion:
The most important features of the religious
history of Tripura is the synthesis, Aryan
and non- Aryan known as Bengali Hindu
And Tripuri Hindus. By origin the Tripuri
society had no system of idolatry. The
deities males or females worshipped by
them have no image or patima but of
symbolic image made out of green bamboo.
Vol. 3 , issue 27-29, July-September 2017.
ISSN: 2454-2725
But due to culture-contact with the Bengali
Hindus they turned to be idol-worshiper.
Leaving aside the plain dwellers, the
Tripuris of interior hill areas also worship
the image of some Hindu deities. What is
interesting to note here is that the Tripuri
society has customary practice to worship
an unmarried girl as the representative of
the goddess fortune , Laxmi. This worship
of goddess Laxmi is held during the
harvesting time of jhum cultivation.
Dance:
Tripuri people are a beauty-loving and
havind good sense of humour and artistry.
It is evident from their vogue of dance and
music through which their thoughts and
emotions are charmingly depicted. They
have mainly four types of dances which
may be classified into two, ceremonial or
ritualistic and recreational. These are
Garia, Mamita, Lebangbumani and
Mashak Surmani.
Garia deity
to the Tripuris Garia is a god of wealth and
prosperity and accordingly the Garia had long
since been worshiped by them. The worshippers
offer their oblation with intense longing for the
aim of wealth and prosperity. The worship of Garia
deity can also be termed as the cult of jhum
cultivation as they hold that having of good crop is
essentially interwoven with the blessing of Garia
deity whose boon can be acquired only by way of
offering puja before they start jhoom cultivation by
cutting and burning of forest. Garia Puja is
associated with the concept of agro-based rituals
followed by dance recital known as Garia dance.
Therefore the jhoom cultivators celebrate Garia
puja iin an enthusiastic manner commencing from
the last day of Chaitra and up to the end of 1 st week
of Baisakhi. This week-long celebration of Garia
puja bears a profound significance of the socio-
cultural as well as socio-religious life of Tripuris.
वर्ष 3, अंक 27-29 जुलाई-सितंबर 2017