MOIDAMS - ART AND CULTURE
News: Assam's
moidams fit UNESCO requirements for heritage site
What's in the news?
● Assam's
pyramid-like structures known as moidams or maidams have met all the technical
requirements of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre.
Key takeaways:
● Charaideo
in eastern Assam has more than 90 moidams, the mound-burial system of the Ahoms
who ruled large swathes of the present-day State and beyond for some 600 years
until the advent of the British in the 1820s.
Charaideo Moidams:
● The
Charaideo Moidams 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 Moidam at Charaideo.
● Out
of 386 Maidams or Moidams explored so far, 90 royal burials at Charaideo are
the best preserved, representative of and the most complete examples of mound
burial tradition of the Ahoms.
Ahom Dynasty:
● 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 Siu-Ka-Pha in 1253.
● The
Ahoms ruled Assam for over 600 years and have a record of being one of the
longest reigns in the world.
● They
acted as a threshold that protected the entire South East Asia from ruthless
invasions.