Tripuri Culture - Traditional Dress

Traditional Dress

Tripuris have their own traditional dresses. This dress is similar in style to that of other North-East Indian peoples. It is, however, totally different in terms of the pattern and design. The clothing for the lower half of the body is called rignai in Tripuri and for the upper half of the body the clothing has two parts risa and rikutu.

The risa covers the chest area and the rikutu covers the whole of the upper half of the body. Formerly, these garments were woven by ladies using home-spun cotton thread. Nowadays, the threads are bought from the market and the risa is not worn; instead a blouse is worn by most Tripuri women. Girls are wearing rignai with tops also.

Each Tripuri clan has its own rignai pattern and design. The patterns of the rignai are so distinct that the clan of a Tripuri woman can be identified by the pattern of the rignai she is wearing. However, there is intermingling of the rignai, different clans are wearing rignai of other clans freely and new designs are being woven differently. The rikutu is plain cloth of a different colour and shade than the other items of clothing. Today, the rikutu is woven by the Tripuri ladies.

The different fashion types that are woven in the rignai borok by the Tripuri women are as follows:

and many more.

It is said that at the time of Subrai Raja, the most famous and legendary King of Tripura, through his 250 wives he had invented two hundred fifty designs of rignai. He married those women who invented a new design. But all these designs have been lost over time and only a few remain. An effort to re-discover the lost designs is in process.

The male counterpart for the loin area is rikutu and for the upper part of the body is the kamchwlwi borok. Today, however, very few men are wearing this style of dress except in rural Tripura and by the working class. Males have adopted the modern dress of adopted internationally.