Charaideo

Charaideo or Che-Rai-Doi (Literally: the shining city on the hills in Ahom languagebuilt 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… ) 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. 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.

Etymology 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". 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. According to the Tai-Bailung-Mohong Buranji (a manuscript in Tai), King Sukaphaa was buried in his capital city Che-Rai-Doi.

History

Before the establishment of the Ahom capital at Charaideo, the site was already associated with local religious traditions. Assamese chronicles refer to a pre-existing Deoghar (place of worship or temple) belonging to the Borahi, while Sristidhar Dutta describes Charaideo as a sacred place of the Chutias, Morans and Borahis. Pavitra Assam, edited by Maheswar Neog, preserves a tradition that a Chutia temple had existed at Charaideo before the arrival of the Ahoms in Assam and even before the settlement of the Borahis in the locality.

According to the Satsari Assam Buranji, when Sukaphaa was searching for a permanent centre in the region, Thamithuma, who identified himself as the chief (adhikari) of the Borahi-Morans, told him that a Deoghar belonging to "our king" stood on the hill and recommended the place as suitable for settlement. Sukaphaa subsequently established his capital at Charaideo and founded an Ahom Deo-Shal at the existing Deoghar, thereby incorporating the older sacred site into the ritual landscape of the new polity. He also settled seven Borahi families at nearby Chilanimaria, assigning them functions including those of potter, water-bearer, bowl-keeper, physician, store-keeper, cook and fowl-rearer in connection with the establishment.

The sacred character of Charaideo continued after it ceased to function as the principal political capital. It became the principal royal burial ground of the Ahom dynasty, where the Maidams of Ahom kings, queens and members of the royal elite were constructed, and remained one of the most important ritual centres of the Ahom state. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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).

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.

Nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site

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

Charaideo

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