Assam: India's UNESCO ambassador visits Charaideo Moidams

India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Vishal Sharma, visited the culturally significant site of Charaideo Moidams in Assam, which India has nominated for inclusion in UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage List. The visit took place on Friday, with Sharma expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for their efforts in promoting Assamese culture.

Charaideo Moidams, a cluster of mounds reflecting the Tai Ahom community's late medieval burial tradition in Assam is renowned as a captivating tourist destination. Drawing parallels to the Egyptian pyramids these mounds showcase the remarkable architectural prowess and craftsmanship of Assam's artisans from the medieval era.

The Indian envoy disclosed that India has officially nominated the site expressing optimism about its potential inclusion in the esteemed World Heritage List. Sharma commended the Assam government, the Ministry of Culture, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Assam Archaeology Department for their dedicated efforts in preserving this culturally significant site.

"I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for promoting Assamese culture and world heritage to international countries and places all over the world. The government of India has nominated this site on the world heritage list, and I hope it gets inscribed on the list," Sharma remarked.

Highlighting the historical and cultural importance of Moidams, Sharma reiterated Prime Minister Modi's vision of "Vikash Bhi Virasat Bhi," connecting India's past with its future. The ambassador shared his visit to the Moidams on social media acknowledging the mound burial system of the Ahom dynasty.

In the preceding year, Chief Minister Sarma had written to Prime Minister Modi informing him that the Assam government had submitted the World Heritage Nomination Dossier of Moidams to UNESCO for evaluation in the 2023 cycle. Sarma emphasized the cultural significance of Moidams, representing a 600-year-old mound-burial tradition of the Tai Ahoms in Assam. Out of the 386 Moidams explored, the 90 royal burials at Charaideo are considered the best-preserved and most representative examples of this tradition.

Sarma's letter sought the support of the Indian government in forwarding the nomination dossier to the World Heritage Centre of UNESCO, underscoring the absence of a World Heritage Site in the category of cultural heritage in North East India. The collaborative effort with the Archaeological Survey of India further strengthened the nomination process.