Pyramids of India Hold Secrets to Share
Attendants, pets, and valuables were part of burial in Moidams
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India is home to pyramid like structures called Moidams. These tombs in Assam are actually graves of kings and their families. Tai-Ahom clan, who migrated from China in the 12th century, was the builder of these tombs. These burial mounds are similar to the pyramids of Egypt in terms of rituals of interment.
Architecturally, a Moidam or Maidam of Assam is closer to the Native American burial mounds, royal tombs of ancient China, the Barrow of England, the Cairn of Scotland and the Tumulus of Europe. Moidams of Assam belonged to the royals of the medieval Ahom kingdom, who believed their kings were gods.
These vaulted chambers were often double-storied and had a centrally raised platform where the dead body was laid along with the personal items the deceased used during his lifetime. The historical chronicles inform that wives, attendants, pet animals and valuables were buried along with the departed kings.
Moidams are a hemispherical earthen mound with an open pavilion at its peak, called Chow-Chali. A layer of vegetation covers this mound. And an octagonal wall encloses the entire Moidam. These structures look like Native American burial mounds from outside.
The builders of Moidams were Tai Ahom, a clan that migrated from China. They established themselves in the #Brahmaputra river valley and ruled from the 12th to 18th centuries. Their first capital was at Patkai hills, Che-rai-doi or Charaideo (now in Sivasagar district).
Charaideo Moidams area is spread in hundreds of acres and can be divided into 3 major parts — the capital, the cemetery and the sacred religious site. Ahom capital is extinct now, but the cemetery remains are intact.
