Historic! Sivasagar among 5 Archaeological Sites to be Given 'Iconic' Status under New Budget

New Delhi, February 1, 2020:

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced the Government's intention to develop five archaeological sites, including Assam's very own Sivasagar, as "iconic sites", along with the construction of onsite museums.

Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Hastinapur in UP, Dholavira in Gujarat, and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu are the other sites that have been chosen to be given "iconic" status.

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Sivasagar is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Sivasagar district in Assam. The place gets its name from the lake Sivasagar, which is situated in the heart of the city.

Assam was ruled by the Ahoms for six centuries in medieval India, and Sivasagar served as the capital of the Ahom Kingdom from 1699 to 1788. Various constructions and artifacts belonging to the kingdom have been discovered at the present-day archaeological sites in the region.

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The Tai-speaking Ahoms came to the area from Yunnan province, China, in the 13th century. Sivasagar was the capital of the Ahom kingdom in the 18th century, when it was called Rangpur; several temples remain from that period. The town is now a tea-processing centre on the Northeast Frontier Railway and the national highway. In addition to tea, the surrounding region produces rice, silk, mustard, and timber.

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