Tripura Sundari Temple

Set on a low hillock at Udaipur, about 55 km south of Agartala, the Tripura Sundari temple — known locally as Matabari — is counted among the 51 Shakti Pithas, the sacred sites where parts of the goddess Sati are said to have fallen. Here it is believed her right foot fell, and the presiding goddess is worshipped as Tripura Sundari, or Soroshi, from whom the state itself takes its name.

The temple was built in 1501 by Maharaja Dhanya Manikya of the Manikya dynasty, and its square sanctum topped by a distinctive tortoise-back (kurmapitha) roof is a classic example of Bengal-Tripura temple architecture. Two near-identical black-stone images of the goddess stand within, one large and one small, the smaller carried by the royal family on military campaigns in earlier centuries.

Beside the temple lies the Kalyan Sagar, a large lake teeming with huge fish and tortoises that pilgrims feed as an act of devotion; catching them is strictly forbidden. The temple is busiest during Diwali, when a vast fair, the Diwali Mela, draws hundreds of thousands of devotees over several days.