Birthday of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarman Bahadur in Tripura Date in the current year: August 19, 2024

Before the European colonization of the Indian Subcontinent, the Twipra Kingdom was one of the largest and most prosperous kingdoms in India. Its golden age was in the 14th — 16th centuries. It was at this time that the Manikya dynasty became the ruling house of the Twipra Kingdom. In 1919, the ruler of Tripura, which had become a British protectorate by then, assumed the title Maharaja.

Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarman Bahadur, whose birth anniversary is an official holiday in Tripura, was the last ruling Maharaja of Tripura. Although the Manikya dynasty exists to this day, Bir Bikram’s son was a nominal ruler, and since Tripura became an Indian state, the title “Maharaja of Tripura” has been purely honorific and symbolic.

Bir Bikram was born on August 19, 1908 to Birendra Kishore Manikya a year before his father’s ascension to the throne of Tripura. He became maharaja in 1923, aged 15. Bir Bikram’s consort was Kanchan Prava Devi, the daughter of Maharaja Yadvendra Singh of Panna.

Maharaja Bir Bikram is remembered as a reformer who modernized Tripura. In particular, he was interested in architecture and urban planning. Bir Bikram is considered the father of modern architecture in Tripura, and it was during his reign that Tripuras’s capital of Agartala was redeveloped, rebuilt, and expanded. In addition, Bir Bikram designed and oversaw the construction of Tripura’s first airport, which was opened in 1942 and was used by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.

Maharaja Bir Bikram also set up the first higher education institution in Tripura. He planned to open a college as early as 1937, but it took 10 years to fulfill the plan because of World War II. The Maharaja Bir Bikram College opened shortly after Bir Bikram’s death. Tripura’s only state university, which was established in 2015, was also named after Bir Bikram to honor his contribution to the development of education in Tripura.

Bir Bikram was also the first ruler of Tripura to visit Europe and America. He also pioneered land reforms in the state by reserving lands for Tripuri people (the original inhabitants of Tripura). His reform made it possible to establish the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) in 1979.

Maharaja Bir Bikram died on May 17, 1947 at age 38. He was succeeded by his son, who was the nominal king for two years. Since the new maharaja was a minor, Bir Bikram’s widow served as regent. In 1949, Tripura joined the newly independent India.

To highlight the contribution of Maharaja Bir Bikram to the development of Tripura and celebrate him as the last ruling maharaja of the Tripuri Kingdom, his birthday was declared a state holiday in Tripura. It is marked by various remembrance events held throughout the state.