Ahom burial sites
Why in news:
- The Centre has decided to nominate Assam’s Charaideo Maidams — the Ahom equivalent of the ancient Egyptian pyramids — for the UNESCO World Heritage Site status this year.
- There is currently no World Heritage Site in the category of cultural heritage in the northeast.
- The Maidams, represents the late medieval (13th19th century CE) mound burial tradition of the Tai Ahom community in Assam.
About Ahom Dynasty:
- The Ahom kingdom (1228–1826) was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam.
- It maintained its sovereignty for nearly 600 years having successfully resisted Mughal expansion in Northeast India.
- The Ahom rule lasted for about 600 years until the British annexed Assam in 1826.
- Charaideo, more than 400 km east of Guwahati, was the first capital of the Ahom dynasty founded by Chao Lung SiuKaPha in 1253.
About Maidams:
- The Charaideo Maidams enshrine the mortal remains of the members of the Ahom royalty, who used to be buried with their paraphernalia.
- After the 18th century, the Ahom rulers adopted the Hindu method of cremation and began entombing the cremated bones and ashes in a Maidam at Charaideo.
- Burial is the predominant funeral rite of the Taj people, to which the Ahom peopleoriginally belonged.
- This is opposed to the Hindu system of cremation. After the Ahom kings adopted Hinduism, they chose to bury the ashes after cremation.
- The Ahomcommunity in Assam consider the excavation as an affront to their tradition, because the maidamsare associated with the Ahom ancestor worship and the festival of Me-Dam-Me-Phi.
Syllabus: Prelims + Mains; GS 1 – Art and Culture
