Key maidams missing from Unesco heritage proposal

Guwahati: The maidams of several kings and queens, including that of the founder of the Ahom dynasty Sukafa in the all-important core zone, does not find mention in the request to the Unesco by the Assam directorate of archaeology in September for recognition as a World Heritage Site. The members of the Charaideo Maidam World Heritage Site demarcation committee have alleged.
The pyramid-style graveyards of Ahom kings and queens, known as maidams, are concentrated in and around undivided Sivasagar where the capitals of the Ahom rulers existed for about 600 years. Efforts have been initiated by the state government to make Charaideo the first Unesco world heritage site of historical importance in the northeast. Based on the preliminary assessment report, the core zone of the heritage site tag will be decided. “If the proposed core zone does not have the most significant and undestroyed maidams, it may not be a strong claim for the heritage site tag. The maidam of Sukafa should have been an integral part of the core zone,” said conservation activist Zakirul Alam and a member of the committee.
Alam, along with another member of the committee, Jiten Borpatra Gohain, asked why the entire area of around 4,576 bighas surveyed for the task has not been included in the preliminary assessment. They rued that the proposal included about 12 maidams scattered over only 576 bighas.
“Surprisingly the queen maidams located in government ceiling lands, which are free of encroachment, were not included,” alleged the two members in a statement.
Alam asserted that the maidams of the most powerful kings of the Ahom dynasty, including the seven kings who ruled from the Charaideo capital, remained out of the core zone proposal. He said the maidams of most kings who ruled from the Garhgaon capital are also not included in the proposed core zone. “There will be many missing links if the maidams of the kings who reigned during the first 300 to 400 years of Ahom rule do not find a place in the core zone,” said Alam.
The preliminary assessment, launched by Unesco this year, has been made mandatory to get any spot listed as a World Heritage Site. Archaeologist and the person responsible for preparing the dossier, K C Nauriyal, had told TOI that more than 350 mount burials or maidams from Nagaon in central Assam to Tinsukia in upper Assam were documented but his team found the ‘most complete’, ‘best preserved’ and ‘representative examples’ of maidams at Ahom royal necropolis of Charaideo.