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DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

  • 24 January, 2023

  • 5 Min Read

Ahom Burial Mounds in Assam

Ahom Burial Mounds in Assam

  • The Charaideo Maidams in Assam has just been selected as a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage Center by the Union Government.

More on the news:

  • From among the 52 locations across the nation seeking for the World Heritage Site tag, The Prime Minister chose Maidams mound burial site of Assam.
  • A team of the UNESCO National Heritage Committee would visit Assam in September to inspect the Maidams and take a decision in March next year.
  • There are two categories of nomination – cultural sites and natural sites. The Maidams will be nominated in the category of cultural sites.
  • India has 40 World Heritage Sites – 32 of them cultural sites, seven natural sites and one mixed site. Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park are among the seven natural sites. Currently, there is no World Heritage Site in the category of cultural heritage in the Northeast.

About Charaideo Maidams:

  • The Charaideo Maidams of Assam are the Ahom equivalent of the pyramids of ancient Egypt.
  • The maidams stand in for the Tai Ahom community of Assam's late mediaeval mound burial practise (13th–19th century CE).
  • The members of the Ahom royal family's mortal bones, which were previously interred alongside their personal effects, are now preserved by the Charaideo Maidams.
  • 90 royal burials at Charaideo are the best preserved, most representative, and complete instances of the mound burial tradition of the Ahoms out of the 386 Maidams or Moidams that have been discovered so far.
  • The Ahom kings adopted cremation after the 18th century and started burying the cremated remains in a Maidam at Charaideo.
  • Importance: The Northeast does not currently have any cultural heritage listed as in the World Heritage Sites.
  • When the nation is commemorating Lachit Barphukan's 400th birthday, the nomination of the Charaideo Maidams has gained prominence.

About Ahom Kingdom:

  • In 1253, Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha established the Ahom dynasty.
  • Up until the British annexation of Assam in 1826, the Ahom dynasty ruled for around 600 years.
  • The Ahom dynasty's first capital was Charaideo, located more than 400 kilometres east of Guwahati.

Source: The Hindu


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