Lakshman Manikya was the

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the eas ...

during the mid-18th-century, though he maintained little actual power, having acted only as a

puppet-monarch A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating possession of political power, but who, in reality, is either loyal to or controlled by outside individuals or forces. Such outside power can be exercised by a foreign government, in which case ...

under

Shamsher Gazi Shamsher Gazi ( bn, শমসের গাজী; 1712-1760), also known as the Tiger of Bhati ( bn, ভাটির বাঘ, Bhatir Bagh), was a ruler of Roshnabad and Tripura, which covers parts of modern-day Bangladesh and India. Gazi's reig ...

Life

Originally named Banamali Thakur, he was a grandson of Maharaja

Dharma Manikya II Dharma Manikya II (died 1729) was the king of Tripura Kingdom from 1713 to 1725 and again in 1729, although his power was greatly diminished in 1732 with the rise to power of Jagat Manikya with the aid of the Nawab of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Din Muhamm ...

by his younger son Gadadhar Thakur. In 1748, control of Tripura was taken by

, a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the se ...

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

. Facing opposition from the kingdom's citizens, Gazi placed Banamali on the throne under the name Lakshman Manikya, though actual power remained with the former. This continued for three years, though Lakshman failed to gain the support of the population. Eventually, he was dislodged by Gazi who took the throne for himself, though his rule was similarly short, with the original dynasty reclaiming the power in 1760. His son

Durga Manikya Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around comb ...

also later became ruler of Tripura, reigning from 1809 to 1813.

References

{{reflist Kings of Tripura History of Tripura