GUWAHATI: The Centre has approached UNESCO to declare Unakoti in the neighbouring state of Tripura, a World Heritage Site. It has also recently granted ₹12 crore to the Northeastern state to develop the site as a major destination for tourist footfall.
Unakoti, which also lays its claim to fame as the 'Angkor Wat' of the Northeast, is vying for the UNESCO world heritage tag, and both the Government and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are working to preserve lakhs of Shaivite rock carvings, aesthetic figures, and carved out images of gods and goddesses at the historical site.
This site is said to date back to the 7th-9th centuries, and it’s a Shaiba (Saivite) pilgrimage site that features rock carvings, followed by waterfalls, and other murals. The name Unakoti in Hindi and Bengali literally connotes ‘one less to one crore’, and there are as many as 99,999,99 structures present at the site. It may be mentioned that the town of Unakoti is located in the Kailashahar subdivision of Tripura.