♠ “King is
not one who rules only, but one who backons the way ahead!”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -Shri Aurovindo&nbsp; ♠
 With towering sparkle of personality Maharaja Bir
Bikram Kishore Manikya was not only a suzerain, rather he was the lineal
inheritor of the magnificent Manikya dynasty which had taught the nation both
universal tolerance and royal asceticism. His intellect, through thick and
thin, was thoroughly flourished with the affectionate blessings and amicable
companionship of the master poet Rabindranath. That’s why he never retired from
searching for the realm of knowledge considered to be the only way to salvation
&amp; thus had a profoundest inclination for the fine arts. He remained not
only the magnanimous patron of artistry; rather he himself was a persevering
fine artist with immense faculty of his own. The architectural plan in outlines
of the institution styled after his name i.e. Maharaja Bir Bikram College was
taken from the archetype once drawn by him on his own.&nbsp; The architectural elegance of the cited
college has comprehensively added a cosmetic grandeur to the feather of this
sylvan valley, and blessed we are that we have become the posterity of such a
majestic cultural heritage. Immediately afterwards, as the Tripura monarchy
fell into decay, and even till date, number of schools, colleges &amp;&nbsp; academic institutes have been erected
throughout the province, but where is such vivacious peerless look as MBB
College has? This is a king’s attitude of looking at things that had made a
banal institute of learning a paragon of beauty! The aspiring perception of Maharaja
Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya was unparalleled, so was his vision. This is sheer
intelligible that he emphasized much on a picturesquely shady site blessed with
celestial beauty while looking for a location for erection of the college of his
dream. That is why he spotted an earthly paradise lying on the lap of a
crystal-clear lake within the environs of the capital complex, Agartala. Since
the year 1937 A.D. the erection of the college building took an outset, but due
to the 2nd World War and its aftereffects, and mainly caused by the
untimely demise of Maharaja B.B.K. Manikya, he could not be able to pave the
way for his long-cherished dream and the work came to a standstill. At a
subsequent time, in 1947, the queen consort Kanchan Prabha Devi made a hasty
decision to commence the curriculum of the college betimes to better the
chances of higher education of the evacuees from east Bengal.&nbsp; It is also believed to be the essence of the
deceased king’s visionary idiosyncrasy. This
is the way how one can discover the soul of a sovereign of the traditional
Manikya dynasty. By the sweat of his brow, Maharja brightened up the name of
the culturally rich “Barak” nation before the elite panel of international community
so that the nameless Barak countrymen could have their own credentials too in
the international scaffold. With the same passion, he did not think twice to
let the Indo-Bangla borderline unhindered to safeguard the Hindu Bengalese from
tyrannous torment executed by the Mohammedanism in erstwhile East Pakistan. 

 Few
fault-finding critics are of hair-splitting opinion that Bir Bikram left no
stone unturned for bringing college education into practice by setting up
M.B.B. College, but instead of speeding up the Barak’s right to education
remained unheeded and thus fell flat on its face. It is a silly sham indeed, schemed
up by some hypocrites. But those top-heavy critics quite meticulously shun a
fact that the king had mobilized all his resources to devise an infrastructure
for the widespread expansion of modernized Borak education in independent
Tripura. Whenever the history will be reviewed further, it will ever remain an
ugliest footnote of calumny for he hated most to be remembered as a clannish
ruler. The king, with the faculty of his sagacious foresight, quite befittingly
conferred the ministry of education upon Mr. Brown. For a potential would-be pioneer of a modern
Tripura, it was quite intelligible that he would be speculating on going for a European
pathfinder who could lead mere a backing monarchical province on way towards
its search for an ultramodern educational system. It is why the king sheer
deliberately did not entrust any native Sanskrit Pundit with the delicate
looking ministry of education. That goes without saying, Bir Bikram Kishore
mere empty-handedly started laying a sky-scraping foundation of lifetime
educational system. Alas!
The long cherished dream of a realistic king was smashed into smithereens owing
to premature decease of his soul. However, when it comes to evaluate the
excellence of our recurring educational amelioration speeding up through the
MBB College, Maharaja firstly visualized the network to open up a new vista
centering MBB College. His
Royal Highness, Maharaja B.B.K. Manikya was probably the most clairvoyant of
the entire Manikya age, not in mere bookish wisdom but also by amassing
knowledge from the global circumference &amp; thus went in for globetrotting as
a sightseer. How persevering thirst to fathom the innermost groundwork of world
politics, political economy of some gigantic nations and as to how did they give
shape to planned urbanization! Hats off to such a
far-seeing intellect! Even in that transitional age of lack in means of communication,
he strolled every nook and corner of the Europe, uplifting the torch of
universal amity and brotherhood and paid visit to a few of those epoch-making
world leaders. He met out the turbulent Mussolini in 1930, much before the Abyssinian warfare. Many
thought-provoking duologues and concepts were exchanged between the duo, obviously
in English. The tyrant was so pleased with the king’s affability that even
without having any glaring prominence in the international community and any
global credentials, he gave Maharaja a grandiose felicitation and, for his
attaining a visual perception of Italian armaments &amp; aerobatics, the
fascist ruler ordered his General Balbo
to arrange a mock demonstration of aerial navigation of Italian fighter planes.
Not even that, the great Mussolini
left his dearest aircraft for the use of Maharaja. He provided for the king’s
visiting the centre of education in Rome. Immediately after visiting Rome when
Maharaja was traveling through the city-Milan, Mussolini’s brother, Aulder
Mussolini, the-then editor of the Italian newspaper styled as- “Popolo de Italia”, met the king
and endowed him with a statuette of the fascist leader as a token of their
amity. Resulting from the series of events an almost obscure king from across
the Arabian Sea became largely exposed to the most celebrated Italian Gazettes,
tabloids, newspapers and magazines, and the paparazzi went mad with him.
Maharaja forthwith called on Hindenburg, the German president, who made him honored by giving
away his own photograph bearing his autograph, as a tribute of honor. Later on,
in 1936, while watching Olympic Games, His Majesty B.B.K. Manikya Bahadur took
occasion to a scarce chance to have an hour-long discourse with the greatest dictator ever on earth, Mr.Hitler.
The photograph containing the autograph of the German Furor too was sent to
Maharaja through the German counsel. During conversation with the king, the
furor wished the India-based Olympians every success in the recurring events. In the year 1939 A.D.,
while staying in the U.S.A., Maharaja earned the favor of a cordial
felicitation by the USA president Theodore Roosevelt who was enchanted with
the king’s lofty personality and he too provided him with a photograph of his
own captioned with…“To my Friend”&nbsp; &amp; accordingly autographed by himself, as
a memento of love. Though of minimal
significance, yet these are some insurmountable milestones ever achieved by an
aspiring king ages before. However, on completion
of his tour when back home, Maharaja, employing all his thoughts &amp; visions,
contrived to shape Agartala keeping uniformity with few alien cities. From
royal palace to Golbazar, Kaman
Chowmohani to Motor
Stand, he arrayed the tiny town with footpaths, stout and strong
columns, arches, posts of gaslights. Old-fashioned drainage systems were mended
overnight. The primary plan was to cover as far as possible straightway through
Akhaowra. However, obstacles got in the way at Ramnagar since eradication of a
lot of tenants living by agriculture were involved in the reformation.
Sachindralaal Singh led association of local farmers opposed the proposal and
the strategy stuck there. After several decades under democratic Tripura,
Ramnagar appeared in its present look. But it is worth mentioning here that even
the PWD felt driven to keep the strategy unchanged once planned by the most
enlightened king of Tripura, B.B.K.Manikya. 

 As though it still
resonates with his baritone voice when he responded to a felicitation given by Anjuman-E-Islamiya Institution: “I hope and pray whole-heartedly,-the day is
rising before long when these conflicts and quarrel [racial] will be changed
into peace and many several races and communities hardly taking any care for
malice………. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

(to be contd.)

THE SAGA OF MAHARAJA BIR BIKRAM KISHORE MANIKYA BAHADUR

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