{"id":33144,"date":"2023-01-22T06:51:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T01:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33144"},"modified":"2025-04-19T19:36:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:06:02","slug":"heritage-tag-sought-for-ahom-burial-mounds-in-assam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/heritage-tag-sought-for-ahom-burial-mounds-in-assam\/","title":{"rendered":"Heritage tag sought for Ahom burial mounds in Assam"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are World Heritage Sites?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: Heritage tag sought for Ahom burial mounds in Assam<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are Moidams\/Maidams?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Centre has decided to nominate <strong>Assam\u2019s Charaideo Maidams<\/strong> for the UNESCO World Heritage Centre this year.<\/li>\n<li>The Charaideo Maidams of Assam is the Ahom equivalent of the ancient Egyptian pyramids.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN), headquartered at the World Heritage Centre in <strong>Paris, France<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It was founded in 1945 as the successor to the League of Nation&#8217;s International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.<\/li>\n<li>It was established with an aim to promote world peace and security through international cooperation in five key program areas &#8211; Education; Natural sciences; Social or human sciences; Culture; Communication\/information.<\/li>\n<li>UNESCO is <strong>a member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>Thus, UNESCO&#8217;s programmes contribute to the achievement of the SDGs defined in the 2030 Agenda, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>UNESCO&#8217;s activities have expanded over the years.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It aids in the translation and dissemination of world literature, assists in the establishment and protection of <strong>World Heritage Sites<\/strong> of cultural and natural importance, works to bridge the global digital divide, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are World Heritage Sites?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0These sites have been designated as having \u201coutstanding universal value\u201d under the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972.\n<ul>\n<li>The convention provides a framework for international cooperation in preserving and protecting cultural treasures and natural areas throughout the world.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Categorisation of Sites<\/strong> \u2013 The sites are categorised in three types:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cultural heritage sites<\/strong> \u2013 It includes historic buildings and town sites, important archaeological sites, and works of monumental sculpture or painting<\/li>\n<li><strong>Natural heritage sites<\/strong> \u2013 It includes those natural areas that have excellent ecological and evolutionary processes, endangered species etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mixed heritage sites<\/strong> \u2013 It contain elements of both natural and cultural significance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0India has 40 world heritage sites, including 32 cultural properties, 7 natural properties and 1 mixed site.\n<ul>\n<li>The 40th being the Harappan City, Dholavira in Gujarat, in 2021.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary: Heritage tag sought for Ahom burial mounds in Assam<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Moidams\/maidams have been finalised as India\u2019s sole nomination for consideration as Unesco World Heritage Site for the year 2023-2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are Moidams\/Maidams?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Moidams (also Maidams) are the mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty (13th century-19th century).<\/li>\n<li>The mound-burial system of the royals of the Ahom dynasty in Assam\u2019s Charaideo district can be likened to the royal tombs of ancient China and the Pyramids of the Egyptians Pharaohs.\n<ul>\n<li>The Ahom rule lasted for about 600 years until the British annexed Assam in 1826.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Charaideo<\/strong>, more than 400 km east of Guwahati, was the first capital of the Ahom dynasty founded by Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha in 1253.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Previously, those of the deceased with their paraphernalia were buried.<\/li>\n<li>However, after the 18th century, the Ahom rulers adopted the Hindu method of cremation, entombing the cremated bones and ashes in a Moidam at Charaideo.<\/li>\n<li>The Moidams enshrine the mortal remains of Ahom royalty and are highly venerated.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Q1)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Who was the founder of Ahom kingdom?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The Ahom kingdom was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam. It was founded by Chao Lung Siu-Ka-Pha in 1253.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2)\u00a0How many sites in India are recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>India has 40 world heritage sites, including 32 cultural properties, 7 natural properties and 1 mixed site.\u00a0The 40th being the Harappan City, Dholavira in Gujarat, in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/thesundaystandard\/2023\/jan\/22\/heritage-tag-sought-for-ahom-burial-mounds-in-assam-2540159.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Heritage tag sought for Ahom burial mounds in Assam<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/youthenvoy\/2013\/08\/unesco-united-nations-educational-scientific-and-cultural-organization\/#:~:text=The%20United%20Nations%20Educational%2C%20Scientific,decisions%20of%20these%20two%20bodies.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>United Nations<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/society\/history-and-culture\/pyramid-like-ahom-burial-mounds-to-be-indias-nomination-for-unesco-world-heritage-site-tag\/article66416742.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The Hindu<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/city\/guwahati\/ahom-moidams-indias-sole-nomination-for-unesco-heritage-tag\/articleshow\/97218095.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Times of India<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moidams (also Maidams) are the mound-burial system of the Ahom dynasty (13th century-19th century).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}