CHARAIDEO
(Resting Place of Ahom Swargadeos or Kings)
Diganta Kumar Gogoi

I was in my office at Darjeeling, when my friend and partner in studies of history, Nobin Buragohain made a call to me and informed that dream of million Assamese came true as the historical Maidams of Charaideo, has been included in UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List.
I replied,indeed a proud moment of our Assam, and its people.

“Charaideo”
Whenever this name is uttered images of maidams or royal burial vaults of Ahom royal family came in our minds. The first capital of Ahom kings, Charaideo was built by Chao lung Sukhapha, the founder of Ahom kingdom. Situated in Sivasagar District of Assam and Charaideo is located 45 km east of Sivasagar town.
The name Charaideo means “the shining city in the hills”. After setting the foundation of the Ahom kingdom in the year 1228 AD, Chao lung Sukapha established Charaideo as its capital in 1253 AD. It is said that Chao lung Sukapha sacrificed a white horse under a neem tree and laid the foundation of Ahom Kingdom in Charaideo.
It remained as the capital of Ahom kingdom till the reign of Sudangpha(1397-1407),popularly known as the Bamuni konwar , who shifted the capital to Chorguwa. Even then, Charaideo remained as the symbolic and religious centre for the Ahom kings till the end of their rule. Thus, the place was kept under the special care by Royal authority.
Charaideo is famous for its Maidams or royal tombs of Ahom kings and queens. Many small and big maidams can be found in Charaideo. These Maidams can be termed as the Pyramids of East in comparison to the Pyramids of Egyptrevealing the superb skills of sculptors and fine form of architecture of Assamese people in those days. The Ahom burial custom is based on their belief in life after death.
According to their belief, a man possesses two main parts or souls. After death, one part remains with the dead while the other part goes to heaven and becomes a Spirit. Therefore, the dead is buried in such a way so that the soul continues in the deceased hereafter. The dead body is put in a coffin and it was placed inside a strong structure. After that an earthen mound was raised over the structure and the mound is called maidam.
The royal burial of the Ahom king not only means the burial of dead alone but also include other rites and rituals associated with the dead. The death of the Ahom king was not announced till the nobles of the court appointed and announced a new king. It was the duty of the new king to give orders for the arrangement of burial and for the construction of maidam for the dead king.

The construction of maidam took some days, even months. During this tenure the dead body was was preserved with a liquid called rah. Some claimed that this liquid was honey. The place where the dead body was kept before burial was called Sha-thuwa nagar or Gumutha nagar. The royal coffin was made of wooden planks of Uriam tree (Biscfia javonica). It was called as Rung dang. The coffin was decorated with various colours and designs. After properly washing the body, it was dressed with royal garments. Then the dead body was placed inside the coffin.
On an auspicious day, the coffin was carried in a procession to Chariadeo burial ground. According to Ahom custom, the dead should not be carried through the road by which living pass. So a separate road was constructed known as the “Sha-niya ali”(road through which the dead is carried). As per records, the articles which the dead king used in his life time, furnitures, boxes of gold and silver, utensils, etc. were also placed inside the moidam.
Even the personal servants of the dead king are also buried with the king in the moidam so that they can serve the king inside the moidam. When the royal chamber inside the moidam was ready, the coffin was brought to the bed set of the chamber.

All the articles of daily use were also put properly along with the king’s dead body. The chamber inside the moidam where the king’s dead body was placed is called Ka-reng-rung-dam which means wooden room to keep the coffin. Paying their last homage to the departed king, all come out of the chamber and closed the passage forever. Thereafter layers of earth were placed on the Ka-reng-rung-dam to cover it till it become a huge mound.
A specific group of people known as moidamiya paiks were engaged to complete the works of construction. One officer, Chang-rung phukan was appointed in charge for the construction of moidam. After completing the construction of moidam, the spades and other tools used for construction were washed in a tank known as Kur Dhuwa pukhuri (tank where spades or kor were washed).
The royal moidam construction can be divided into two stages. Till 1696 AD, the burial chambers were made of wood. These were either square or rectangular in shape. From the year 1712 AD to 1826 AD, the burial chambers were made of bricks and the burial chambers are larger in size, and the roof became oval.

Later, after accepting the rituals of Hindu religion, the Ahom kings adopt Hindu custom of burning the dead, but ashes and bones were carried to Charaideo and buried according to Ahom custom. The maidams at Charaideo were kept under proper watch and maintained with great care by the Ahom Kings. For this purpose, the moidamiya paiks were assigned under an officer called Moidam phukan.
Unfortunately, the maidams were periodically desecrated by various foreign invaders, grave diggers, and treasure hunters. In 1663 AD, the Mughal general Mirjumla dug out several maidams and collected a huge number of treasures. After the end of Ahom rule, the British also dug several maidams and obtained enormous number of treasures and valuables. Thus, the numbers of untouched and intact maidams are very few. Presently the ASI (Archaeological survey of India) has undertook many steps and measures to preserve these maidams.
Apart from the maidams, the brick floor and stone pillars of Deoshal are lying on the summit of the hillock Deoshal in Dol Bagan at Charaideo. The Deoshal was the main shrine of the ancestral Gods of Tai Ahom community. During Ahom reign, there was a temple with eight corner and entrances made of stone. Whenever a new king was installed in the throne, he must come to Deoshal to seek blessing from the Ancestral Gods.
Here theTai-ahom priests, the Deodhais and the Bailungs after performing the religious rites, blessed the new monarch. Unfortunately, as per information received, during British rule, the temple was destroyed and its bricks were used for constructing bungalow. Presently the Deoshal lies in ruins.

There are also many Ali or roads constructed during Ahom reign in Charaideo. Some of them are Ramani Ali, Bailung Phukan Ali, Rahdoi Ali, Bauli Ali and most prominently the Dhodar Ali.
The Dhodar Ali is a 212 km long road from Kamargaon in Golaghat to Joypur in Dibrugarh touching Mariani, Gargaon and Charaideo. It was constructed some three hundred years ago by Ahom king Gadadhar Singha(1681 – 1696 CE). The road is also called Dhodar Ali because the king mobilised some dhods or lazy people to build it. Those people were said to pretend to be Bhakats or disciples of Vaishnavite Satra to slip royal responsibilities.
There was a general rule that Bhakats of Vaishnavite Satra would not be forced to perform any royal duties. So many people became Bhakats to skip royal responsibilities. Therefore, King Gadadhar Singha caught many such false Bhakats and forced them to work in the construction of the road. Thus, the road got its name Dhodar Ali.

Charaideo still holds an important place among the Tai-Ahom community. The maidams are still very much important symbol for the Tai-Ahom community. It is the holy land for the Tai-Ahom community and by judging the importance of Charaideo in religion and cultural life of Tai-Ahom community; Charaideo can be termed as the Jerusalem of Tai-Ahom community. Charaideo has the potential for a perfect tourist destination. What it need is proper publicity and awareness among the people in preserving these historical monuments
The once powerful Ahom kingdom no longer exists. For many years, palaces, forts, tanks, maidams mostly are left unattended. Still these monuments remind us of the past glory of Assam and Assamese people. They act as the messengers of our ancestors and taught us to love our country and feel proud of the cultural heritage which we inherited from them.
We hope recognition of Charaideo Maidams by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) as World Heritage will usher a new era of awareness for preserving all historical monuments and places of cultural heritage.

27-07-2024
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