- The UNESCO World Heritage Centre has decided to nominate Assam’s Charaideo Maidams — the Ahom equivalent of the ancient Egyptian pyramids — this year.
- The nomination is significant because it comes at a time when the country is commemorating the 400th birthday of Lachit Barphukan.
Charaideo Maidams
- The Charaideo maidams represents the late medieval (13th-19th century CE) mound burial tradition of the Tai Ahom community in Assam.
- The Ahoms preferred to bury their ancestors at Charaideo, where the first king Sukapha was buried.
- According to historical records, wives, attendants, pet animals, and a large amount of valuables were buried with the departed kings.
- The Charaideo Maidams enshrine the mortal remains of Ahom royalty, who were previously buried with their paraphernalia.
- After the 18th century, the Ahom rulers adopted the Hindu cremation method and began burying cremated bones and ashes in a Maidam at Charaideo.
- Out of the 386 Maidams discovered thus far, 90 royal burials at Charaideo are the best preserved, representative, and complete examples of the Ahoms’ mound burial tradition.
Architectural specifics
- It is designed as a massive underground vault with one or more chambers with domical superstructures.
- It is surrounded by an earthen mound heap and appears to be a hemispherical mound from the outside.
- A small open pavilion chow-chali is provided at the top of the mound.
- The entire maidam is surrounded by an octagonal dwarf wall.
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/assams-charaideo-maidam-nominated-for-unesco-world-heritage-tag-himanta-biswa-sarma/articleshow/97202429.cms#:~:text=Assam%20chief%20minister%20Himanta%20Biswa%20Sarma%20said%20that%20Charaideo%20Moidams,by%20the%20government%20of%20India.