Pyramid-like Ahom burial mounds to be India’s nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site tag

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Charaideo Maidam from among 52 tentative sites across the country, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said

GUWAHATI

The Centre has decided to nominate Assam’s Charaideo Maidams — the Ahom equivalent of the ancient Egyptian pyramids — for the UNESCO World Heritage Centre this year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the maidams, representing the late medieval (13th-19th century CE) mound burial tradition of the Tai Ahom community in Assam, from among 52 sites across the country seeking the World Heritage Site tag.

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 nomination of the Charaideo Maidams has attained significance at a time when the country is celebrating the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphukan,” Mr. Sarma said.

Lachit Barphukan is a legendary Ahom general whose battle against the Mughals in 1671 made him a BJP icon.

“There is currently no World Heritage Site in the category of cultural heritage in the northeast. The dossier [to push for the case of the Charaideo Maidams] was prepared in technical collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India,” the Chief Minister said.