Guwahati: The Pyramids of Assam also known as Charaideo Maidam which contains over 90 royal burial mounds has complied with all technical conditions set forth by the UNESCO Secretariat.
All of the UNESCO Secretariat’s technical standards have been satisfied by the madams. Moreover, the World Council on Monuments and Sites will now assess the nomination.
Taking to his Twitter handle Assam CM wrote, “With great pride, happy to share a landmark achievement in our endeavour to get World Heritage Site status for Charaideo Maidams. The maidams have met all technical requirements of the UNESCO Secretariat. My gratitude once again to Hon PM Shri @narendramodi ji for the nomination.”
On January 21, Chief Minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma announced that the Center had chosen to nominate Charaideo Maidam of the Ahom kingdom as a World Heritage site. Out of 52 potential locations around the nation, the Chief Minister claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had selected Assam’s Charaideo Maidam.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter that the Assam government had submitted the World Heritage Nomination Dossier of the cultural heritage site of Moidams-the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty in Charaideo (Assam) to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for further submission to UNESCO for their evaluation in the current year cycle of 2023.
“Moidams (or Maidams) represent the late medieval (13th-19th century CE) mound-burial tradition of the Tai Ahoms in Assam which lasted almost 600 years. Out of 386 Moidams explored so far, 90 royal burials at Charaideo are the best preserved, representative and most complete examples of this tradition.”, the letter stated.
The Ahom monarchs adopted the Hindu practise of cremation after the 18th century and eventually entombed the cremated bones and ashes in a Moidam at Charaideo. Before the mortal remains of the departed along with their paraphernalia were buried. The Moidams are held in high esteem.
“When the nation celebrated the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Borphukan, you had kindly spared some moments and viewed the exhibition set up in the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, which included a model of Moidam that showcased unique burial architecture and tradition of the Tai Ahoms.”, the letter further stated.
“There is currently no World Heritage Site in the category of cultural heritage in North East India. This important dossier has been prepared in technical collaboration with the ASI.I would like to request that the Government of India supports our efforts and forwards the aforesaid nomination dossier to the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO.”, the letter read.
The draught dossier for the Charaideo Maidams’ inclusion on the World Heritage list had already been sent to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on October 10, 2022 by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. The request to add the Charaideo Maidams located in the Charaideo district close to Sonari town to the World Heritage list will likely be brought up for discussion at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s upcoming meeting.
The previous Assam government had made it a policy to investigate the viability of adding the Charaideo Maidams of the Ahom era to the World Heritage list. A committee was established by the government to create a dossier in this regard.
The committee included Dr KC Nauriyal, cultural expert; Dr Deepirekha Kouli, Director, Archaeology; Dr Nabajit Deori, Deputy Director; Dr Chabina Hassan, Technical Officer; Ajit Kumar Bora, State Archaeological Engineer; Simran Sambhi, Exploration Officer; and Kangkonjyoti Saikia, Senior Conservation Officer.
The committee created a draught dossier which was forwarded to the Indian government’s ministry of culture. The reason provided for the inclusion of the Charaideo Maidams in the World Heritage list was acceptable in the eyes of the Ministry of Culture which reviewed the draught dossier. The draught dossier which included more than 100 pages was then sent to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris by the Ministry of Culture.
The final dossier will be delivered by the Government of Assam to the UNESCO headquarters through the Ministry of Culture in the following phase.
The Assam government is committed to promote the Charaideo Maidams of the Ahom era and has already set aside Rs 25 crore for the preservation, protection and creation of the World Heritage site nomination dossier.
The first Ahom king Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha constructed Charaideo as the first permanent capital of the Ahom kingdom in 1253. Throughout the 600 years of Ahom reign, the capital was relocated, but Charaideo remained a representation of Ahom dominance. While other maidams can be found strewn throughout the area between Jorhat and Dibrugarh towns, royal maidams can only be found at Charaideo.
The maidams constructed in the Ahom style preserve the typically mummified mortal remains of the Ahom royalty and nobles. Structurally, a maidam consists of vaults with one or more chambers. The vaults have a domical superstructure that is covered by a hemispherical earthen mound that rises high above the ground with an open pavilion at the peak called chow chali. An octagonal dwarf wall encloses the entire maidam.