A maidam is a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones ...

of the royalty and aristocracy of the medieval Ahom Kingdom (1228–1826) in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. The royal are found exclusively at Charaideo; whereas other are found scattered in the region between

Jorhat Jorhat ( ) is one of the important cities and a growing urban centre in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and "Sowkihat" which existed on the opposite ...

and

Dibrugarh Dibrugarh (pron: ˌdɪbru:ˈgɑ:) is an industrial city in Upper Assam with sprawling tea gardens. It is located 435 kms East from the state capital of Dispur. It serves as the headquarters of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam i ...

towns. Structurally, a ''maidam'' consists of vaults with one or more chambers. The vaults have a domical superstructure that is covered by a hemispherical earthen mound that rises high above the ground with an open pavilion at the peak called ''chow chali''. An octagonal dwarf wall encloses the entire ''maidam''. Burial is the predominant funeral rite of the

Tai people Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, a ...

, to which the

Ahom people The Ahom (Pron: ), or Tai-Ahom is an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The members of this group are admixed descendants of the Tai people who reached the Brahmaputra valley of Assam in 1228 and the local ind ...

originally belonged. This is opposed to the Hindu system of

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a Cadaver, dead body through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India ...

. After the Ahom kings adopted Hinduism, they chose to bury the ashes after cremation. The structural construction and the process of royal burials are explained in historical documents called ''Chang-Rung Phukanor

Buranji Buranjis (Ahom language: ''ancient writings'') are a class of historical chronicles and manuscripts associated with the Ahom kingdom written initially in Ahom Language and later in Assamese language as well. The Buranjis are an example of histor ...

'', which detail even the articles that were buried. Later excavations under the Archaeological Survey of India found some of the previously defiled, with the articles mentioned in the Buranji missing. Many of the were excavated and looted, most famously under the Mughal general Mir Jumla who had occupied

Garhgaon Gargaon (Pron:/gɑ:ˈgɑ̃ʊ/) is a town in Assam, India and was the capital of the Ahom kingdom for many years. It was built by the Ahom king Suklenmung (Gargoyaan Rojaa) in 1540. It is said that the capital was built at the suggestion of ...

briefly in the 17th century, and under the British after 1826. The Ahom community in Assam consider the excavation as an affront to their tradition, because the are associated with the Ahom ancestor worship and the festival of

Me-Dam-Me-Phi Me-Dam-Me-Phi is the most important Ancestor worship communal festival in the Ahom religion celebrated by the Ahom people on 31 January every year in memory of the departed. It is the manifestation of the concept of ancestor worship that the ...

Notes

References

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External links

{{commons category, Group of four Maidams
Moidams in Dibrugarh District, Assam

The Moidam of Lachit Borphukan.
Multi-crore rupee project to give facelift to Ahom maidams
''The Telegraph'', August 4, 2006. Monuments and memorials in India Ahom kingdom Tumuli Tai history