Moidams at Charaideo: the mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty and India's 43rd World Heritage entry

Background

“Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty” from Assam was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as India's 43rd entry, at the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee held at New Delhi. The UNESCO list of properties inscribed for India records the year of inscription as 2024. It is the third World Heritage Property from Assam, following Kaziranga National Park and Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, both inscribed under the Natural category in 1985, and it is the first cultural heritage site from the North East on the list. The moidams are a royal mound burial site created by the Tai-Ahom, situated in the foothills of the Patkai Ranges in eastern Assam. The Tai-Ahom people arrived in Assam in the 13th century, establishing Charaideo as their first city and the site of the royal necropolis. For 600 years, from the 13th to the 19th century CE, the Tai-Ahom constructed moidams, or “home-for-spirit”, using natural elements such as hills, forests and water to create a sacred geography. The mounds were initially built with wood and later with stone and burnt bricks, as documented in the Changrung Phukan, the Ahoms' traditional canonical literature. The Archaeological Survey of India and the Assam State Department of Archaeology have worked together on the site's conservation.