Why in the news?

• The Charaideo Moidams in Assam, which are royal burial grounds from the Ahom dynasty, were recently named UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
• This gives this nationally important area, which is about 30 km from Sivasagar in eastern Assam, international recognition.

What are Moidams?

=> Moidams are tumuli, which are earth mounds built over the graves of Ahom kings.

=> The moidams of the Ahom royal family are in Charaideo, but you can find other buildings like them all over eastern Assam.

=> Each moidam usually has a vault with rooms inside, a hemispherical mound on top, and a tower called the chow chali that is surrounded by an eight-sided wall.

=> The Ahoms, who were related to the Tai people, chose burial over burning, which is different from Hindu customs.

=> Their unique burial rituals, which were based on old Egyptian practices, meant that these moidams often held more than just the dead.

=> They also held things for the afterlife, servants, animals, and even wives.

The Importance of Charaideo:

=> Charaideo, whose name comes from Tai Ahom words that mean “shining town on a hill,” was the first capital of the Ahom kingdom, which was set up by King Sukaphaa in 1253 AD.

=>  It stayed an important power center and is still a place with a lot of historical and cultural value.

Tourism and Preservation:

=> The moidams are popular with tourists today, but many of them are in bad shape.

=> The Archaeological Survey of India only protects 30 of the over 150 moidams.

=> People know that the Charaideo Moidams are important as a whole, especially since they are different from other similar grave sites in terms of size and number of people buried there.

=> Assam’s culture will always be linked to the Ahom kingdom, which ruled for a long time from 1228 to 1826 AD.

=> People praise them for how well they run their government and how strong their military is, especially when fighting off foreign attacks.

=> Celebrating people like Lachit Borphukan at events shows how important they are to modern Indian culture, especially as nationalism grows.