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Tripura celebrates Lord Krishna's Raas Lila
by Pinaki
Das
Agartala:
Thousands of Hindu Manipuris' celebrated "Maha
Raas", a festival celebrating the love life of Lord
Krishna, here. The festival is celebrated every year
on the full moon night of "Kartik Purnima" in the
Hindu month - "Kartik" to mark Krishna's love for
Radha. Girls in their traditional dresses danced round
the idols of Lord Krishna and Radha even as one acting
as Gopi sang devotional songs throughout the night
at a local temple. The Maha Raas celebration started
in Tripura more then two centuries ago . Earlier before
the partition of India devotees far from Syllhet and
Comilla in present Bangladesh used to come to participate
in the night- long festival. The celebration started
after a Maharani of the Manikya dynasty of Tripura,
who was from Manipur's Maharaja Bhakta Chandra brought
the idol of Radha-Gobind from there and established
a Radhamadhav temple here. Tripura had a cultural
and traditional bond with the Manipur kingdom that
started more than 350 years back through matrimonial
alliances. In fact during the reign of Maharaja Krishina
Chandra Manikya in the late 18th century along with
the Manipuri culture, Bhakti cult was also in progress
in Tripura. This is the 211th year of celebration
of Raas a festival .
Along
with Hindu Manipuri's both Bengalis and even the tribal
population of the state, forgetting their religious
and cultural identity, participate in the night-long
celebrations. It has in fact turned into a platform
where people get united forgetting their differences.
They thus play a vital role in bringing back peace
to Tripura which has been affected by violence for
more than two decades. Abhiram Singh, whose daughter
is taking part in the dance festival said the "Maha
Raas" is one of the most important festivals of the
Manipuri's which is being celebrated here for more
than two centuries. He said: In today celebration,
people of all communities gather to celebrate the
Radha Govinda "raas" and I think it is a common platform
to forget our differences and love each other and
get united. " Krishna Devi, a senior Manipuri leader,
said the festival is a historical festival of the
Manipuris and people celebrate the Radha Govinda "raas"
which is a classical form of dance and symbolizes
the rich history and tradition of the Manipuri community.
-Nov 13,
2008
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