27 July 2024 : PIB Summary For UPSC

1. Inclusion of Maidams as the UNESCO World Heritage Site is a Great Moment of Pride & Glory for the People of Assam: Shri Sarbananda Sonowal

(Source https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=2037734 )

Topic: GS1 – Art and culture

Context

The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, & Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, welcomes the inclusion of Maidams of Charaideo as UNESCO’s World Heritage Site. The Charaideo Maidam has been officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the cultural category. This was announced at the 46th meeting of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO in New Delhi Moidams is the first cultural heritage site from Northeast India to be recognized by UNESCO, the third World Heritage Site in Assam and 43rd site in India.

Analysis of the news:

The centuries old royal burial site of Ahom Dynaty in Assam, Charaideo district.

About Charaideo Moidams:

• The 600-year-old mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty is known as the Moidams.
• The Moidams is situated on the foothills of the Patkai Ranges in eastern Assam, the burial mounds are considered sacred by the Tai-Ahom and reflect their unique funerary practices.
• The Tai-Ahom people arrived in Assam in the 13th century, establishing Charaideo as their first capital and the site of the royal necropolis.
• For 600 years, from 1228 till Assam’s annexation to the British through the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, the the Tai-Ahoms constructed moidams, using natural elements like forests, hills, and water to create a sacred geography.
• Maidams are elevated, often double-storied, and entered through an arched passage.
• Atop the hemispherical mud-mound layers of bricks and earth is laid, where the base of the mound is reinforced by a polygonal toe-wall and an arched gateway on the west.
• Eventually, the mound would be covered by a different layer of vegetation reminiscent of a group of hillocks, transforming the area into an undulating landscape.
• Believing their monarchs to be divine, the Tai-Ahom developed a distinct funerary tradition of constructing moidams for royal burials.

About UNESCO World Heritage Sites

A World Heritage site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).  World Heritage sites are designated by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, scientific or other forms of significance. The sites are judged to contain “cultural and natural heritage around the world considered being of outstanding value to humanity.”   Now, India has 43 world heritage sites, including 35 cultural properties, 7 natural properties and 1 mixed site.