Let’s make an assumption, a majority of you haven’t heard about a place called Unakoti hidden somewhere in the remote yet tranquil northern part of Tripura, India. Now let us make the second assumption, after reading through this story you would add to your treasure-trove of knowledge with respect to India’s archaeology, its history and also its hidden mysteries. Unakoti is a numerical term which in Bengali means one less than a crore (10 million). And as your brain may already go into activity there is a lot that this number behind the story of this place.

Statue of Unakoti carved in rock face

Located about 150 kilometers from the state capital it is perhaps one of India’s greatest hidden secrets. Some call it the India’s Macchu Picchu while others are amazed at the scale of the rock statues that don the mountains. Enter through the non-descript rock gate and you would be elated into a different world of stone images, murals and a pristine rivulet nestled amidst the greenery of the surroundings. There are sculptures that run as high as 30-40 feet while thousands of smaller ones have sadly been lost to the vegetation and lack of effort put up by the Archaeological Survey of India over the years.

Legend has it that Lord Shiva along with an entourage of other gods and goddesses (one crore including Lord Shiva) were headed to Kailash and decided to rest at Raghunandan Hill for the night. He instructed others that they would have to start before dawn the next day but none of them woke up in time earning his wrath. His curse meant that all god and goddesses turned into stones. And you can see carvings of various gods and goddesses with the gigantic figure of Ganesha being one of the biggest attractions.

Statue of Ganesha, Unakoti

There is another popular legend which has it that Kalu Kamar a local sculptor was assigned the job of building one crore statues of deities but he fell one short of the target as he created one statue of his own and didn’t make it to the heaven. Another version of the same story says that Kalu was a devotee of Goddess Parvati and wanted to accompany her to Kailash but Lord Shiva wasn’t too enthusiastic about this idea. Parvati asked him to make one crore images of Shiva by the next morning to impress him. Sadly, he fell one short of his target and had to remain on earth.

Beyond these legends and the mythical tales, archaeologists believe that these idols date back to a time period between the 8th and 9th century. According to this school of thought, it was during the Pala Empire that this place came into existence but given the lack of historical evidence, the origins of these mystical rock status cannot be ascertained. Other experts believe these statues came up over a longer time frame that cut across centuries and often cites the influence of different religious sects and their symbolism that can be seen all over the hill. Apart from Shaivite statues, there is a lot of influence from Buddhism which was one of the prominent religions in this region during that time period.

Stone Statue of Vishnu at Unakoti, Tripura

Leave aside archaeological theories or the mythical legend and think for a while the gigantic effort that went into creating this place. If it was done by humans (as most of the readers would like to believe apart from those who are deeply devoted to religious fantasies) it would have involved an army of sculptures armed with the most basic tools and taken millions of man hours to leave behind one of the most mysterious monuments of ancient India behind. If the great pyramids are seen as marvels of ancient engineering Unakoti surely has deserves its own place in the same breathe.

So what is Unakoti, a resting place for gods who didn’t follow the orders of Lord Shiva, a monument to a sculptor’s genius or an empire’s expression of its religious beliefs? It’s hard to tell but one thing is certain you would have to agree that we were spot on in at least one of the two assumptions we made at the start of this piece.