Pa?-t of Bengal and the Kingdom of Ava. 49 



accession of the house of Timour ; nor have the Tripura Ra- 

 jas recovered any part of this southern portion of their an- 

 cient dominions ; although, in several parts among the hills of 

 Chatigung there are remnants of this tribe. I shall, for the 

 present, content myself with an account of that part of the 

 frontier where the Tripuras still retain some sort of inde- 

 pendence, or claim a supremacy. 



In 1798 Radun Manik, the Rajah of Tripura, resided at 

 Agatola, near Komila, his whole estates on the plains having 

 been long tributary and subject to the government of Bengal ; 

 but the Tripura nation, or tribe, maintained, under his au- 

 thority, a kind of independence among the hills for about 

 thirty miles in width, along the banks of the Monu river, 

 which falls into the Surma, and along both banks of the Go- 

 muti and Phani (Fenny R.) rivers, a length of about 120 

 miles. 



The Tripuras seem to be divided into three tribes : 1st, 

 The Tripuras, properly so called, who occupy the banks of 

 the Gomuti ; Qdty, the Alinagar, who occupy the banks of 

 the Phani, and especially of its principal branch the Muri, which 

 passes Kundal ; but a part of this tribe occupies the banks 

 of the Alta, a branch of the Karnaphuli, which is included in 

 the district of Chatigang ; and 3dly, the Reang, who occupy 

 chiefly the banks of the Monu, which falls into the Surma. 

 All the Tripuras are by the Bengalese commonly called 

 Teura. It was with the southern tribe alone that I had any 

 intercourse, and these did not call themselves Tripuras but 

 Baruksa, the final sa being analogous to the English word 

 men, when speaking of nations, as Frenchmen, Irishmen, 

 Scotchmen ; so that Baruk is the name of this tribe at least ; 

 whether it is applicable to the whole Tripura nation I cannot 

 say, but I was assured by the Raja's principal officer, (Dewan) 

 that all the three tribes of Tripuras speak the same language, 

 although this varies into several dialects, as usual among all 

 people having no literary standard. These tribes indeed, the 

 Dewan says, are mere local distinctions. I took down some 

 of the most common words from those who inhabit the banks 

 of the Karnaphuli, and on comparing them with those used 

 near the Phani, I found some differences ; but this may have 

 VOL. II. NO. I. JAN. 1825. K 



