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Charaideo

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Charaideo
Che-Rai-Doi [1]
Historical city
Mausoleum of Ahom royals buried in Charaideo
Mausoleum of Ahom royals buried in Charaideo
Charaideo is located in Assam
Charaideo
Charaideo
Location in Assam, India
Charaideo is located in India
Charaideo
Charaideo
Charaideo (India)
Coordinates: 26°56′31″N 94°52′34″E / 26.94194°N 94.87611°E / 26.94194; 94.87611
Country India
StateAssam
DistrictCharaideo
Capital, Ahom KingdomTraditionally c. 1253; 773 years ago (1253)
FounderSukaphaa
Languages
 • OfficialAssamese
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
ISO 3166 codeIN-AS
Vehicle registrationAS

Charaideo or Che-Rai-Doi (Literally: the shining city on the hills in Ahom language[2]) is a historic town situated in Charaideo district, Assam, India. As per conventional chronology, Charaideo was established by the first Ahom king Sukaphaa in the year 1253 CE as the first capital of the Ahom kingdom.[3] Even though the capital was shifted to different cities over the course of Ahom rule, Charaideo remained the symbolic centre of Ahom power in Assam. It is now famous for its vast collection of maidams (tumuli) which are the burial mounds of the ruling Ahom kings and members of the Ahom royalty. It is located about 30 km from Sivasagar town in Charaideo district. It is now famous for its extensive royal necropolis of maidams, the burial mounds of Ahom kings, queens and other members of the royalty. The necropolis also preserves a transition in Ahom funerary architecture: the burial vaults of the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries were predominantly constructed of wood, while stone and burnt-brick construction came into use from around the beginning of the eighteenth century.[4]

Charaideo Maidams,Assam
Charaideo Maidams site map,Assam

Etymology

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Charaideo (also Ahom: Che-Rai-Doi; Charai-khorong), was the permanent settlement of the first Ahom king Chaolung Sukaphaa. It was earlier referred to as Che-Tam-Doi-Phi (literally City-Hill-God) meaning "city of the sacred hill".[5][6][7][8] The name Charaideo originated from Tai-Ahom word Che Rai Doi or Doi Che Rai which means the shining city on the hills. The word Che-Rai-Doi became Charaideo or Charai-khorong in Assamese.[9][10][11][12] According to the Tai-Bailung-Mohong Buranji (a manuscript in Tai), King Sukaphaa was buried in his capital city Che-Rai-Doi.[13][14]

History

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Wall carving of Sukaphaa

Before the arrival of Sukaphaa, the place was a place of worship for local tribes like Moran and Borahi. Though the capital of the Ahom kingdom moved many times, Charaideo remained the symbolic centre. It contains sacred burial grounds of Ahom kings and queens and is also the place of ancestral Gods of the Ahoms. The Ahom kings and Queens were buried after extensive and long royal burial rituals. The tombs (Maidam) of Ahom kings and queens at Charaideo hillocks resemble the shape of the pyramids. The construction of the Charaideo maidams changed considerably over the centuries. According to the UNESCO nomination dossier, maidams constructed between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries were built primarily of wood, whereas from the eighteenth century onwards stone and burnt bricks were employed.[15] The Chang-Rung Phukonar Buranji records brick-and-stone construction in the maidams of eighteenth-century rulers including Rudra Singha, Siva Singha and Rajeswar Singha.[16] Maidam No. 2, excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India in 2000–02, is a massive burnt-brick structure which has been dated to the first half of the eighteenth century.[17]

The funerary rites were performed by specialised hereditary groups. Members of the Gharphaliya and Lukhurakhan khels alone were traditionally permitted to bury the kings and queens; they carried the royal coffin to Charaideo, and only the Lukhurakhans were permitted to enter the burial vault to deposit it.[18] In the earlier period, royal burials also included living or dead attendants, who were interred with the deceased to serve him in the afterlife; the practice of burying people alive was abolished by Rudra Singha (1696–1714).[18][19]

The actual number of Maidams was more than 150, but only 30 Maidams are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Assam State Archaeology Department, and the remaining Maidams are unprotected. Most of these unprotected Maidams are encroached upon by people and are getting damaged. The biggest unprotected Maidam is the Bali Maidam near Nimonagarh. This Maidam is called Bali Maidam because, while the British plundered it, they got obstructed by excess sand (bali) in the surroundings of the Maidam.

Charaideo Maidams ,Assam

Nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site

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Maidam of a Ahom king at Charaideo

In 2023 Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose the Maidams for a UNESCO nomination as a World Heritage Site.[20] The site was formally recognised as such on 26 July 2024.[21]

Charaideo Maidams,Assam

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ built his first capital on a permanent basis on a small hill the high fcot-hill area adjacent to that of Lang-Ku-Ri Deo. ... Tai Che-Rai-Doi, Assamised into Charaideo or Charai-khorong and Sans- kritized into Bihagachal… Gogoi, Padmeswar (1968). The Tai and the Tai kingdoms: with a fuller treatment of the Tai-Ahom kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley. Dept. of Publication, Gauhati University. pp. 264 & 265.
  2. ↑ built his first capital on a permanent basis on a small hill including the high fcot-hill area adjacent to that of Lang-Ku-Ri Deo. ... Tai Che-Rai-Doi, Assamised into Charaideo or Charai-khorong and Sans- kritized into Bihagachal… Gogoi, Padmeswar (1968). The Tai and the Tai kingdoms: with a fuller treatment of the Tai-Ahom kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley. Dept. of Publication, Gauhati University. pp. 264 & 265.
  3. ↑ (Phukan 1992, p. 53)
  4. ↑ "Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty: Nomination Dossier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. p. 9. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Gogoi, Padmeswar (1968). The Tai and the Tai kingdoms: with a fuller treatment of the Tai-Ahom kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley. Dept. of Publication, Gauhati University. pp. 264 & 265.
  6. ↑ Bezbaruah, Ranju; Banerjee, Dipankar; Research, Indian Council of Historical (2008). North-East India: interpreting the sources of its history. Indian Council of Historical Research. p. 117. ISBN 9788173052958.
  7. ↑ Gohain, Birendra Kr (1999). Origin of the Tai and Chao Lung Hsukapha: A Historical Perspective. Omsons Publications. pp. 72 & 73.
  8. ↑ Pan-Asiatic Linguistics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics, January 8-10, 1996. Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development. 1996. p. 1023.
  9. ↑ Texts and Contexts in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Texts and Contexts in Southeast Asia Conference, 12-14 December 2001. Universities Historical Research Centre. 2003. pp. 73 & 74.
  10. ↑ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. "Moidams – the Mound-Burial system of the Ahom Dynasty". UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
  11. ↑ Moidams – the Mound-Burial system of the Ahom Dynasty, Archaeological Survey of India Guwahati Circle
  12. ↑ "Charaideo Maidams". www.assaminfo.com.
  13. ↑ gogoi, Pushpadhar 1998, An evaluation of original Tai Culture Heritage ... (PDF), sealang.net{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Hazarika, Nagen 2004, Ahom language: It's typology language contact ... (PDF), sealang.net{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ "Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty: Nomination Dossier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. p. 9. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  16. ↑ "Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty: Nomination Dossier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. p. 9. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  17. ↑ "Maidams at Charaideo" (PDF). Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati Circle. p. 8. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  18. 1 2 "Maidams at Charaideo, Sivasagar, Assam" (PDF). Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati Circle. 2014. pp. 4–5. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  19. ↑ "Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty: Nomination Dossier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. p. 10. Retrieved 21 September 2026.
  20. ↑ "Pyramid-like Ahom burial mounds in Assam to vie for UNESCO World Heritage Site tag". The Hindu. 21 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  21. ↑ "India's moidam royal burial mounds are its latest World Heritage Site". Associated Press. 26 July 2024.

References

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  • Phukan, J. N. (1992). "The Tai-Ahom Power in Assam". In Barpujari, H. K. (ed.). The Comprehensive History of Assam. Vol. 2. Guwahati: Assam Publication Board. pp. 49–60.
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