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Frang-Mai-Dam or Moidam for short (Ahom language:𑜉𑜩𑜓𑜝𑜪; meaning: Burial of the dead) is a traditional tumulus of the Ahom religion. The royal of Charaideo are listed as UNESCO world heritage site. World Heritage ListKalita 2023, Times of India, Unesco ICOMOS Expert Arrives At Assam's Charaideo District, Vying For World Heritage Status Today, the people of the four clans namely Mo-Hung, Mo-Cham, Chaodang and Mo-Plong follow the tomb tradition of Ahom religion.
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, to which the Ahom people originally belonged. This is opposed to the Hindu system of cremation. After the Ahom kings adopted Hinduism, they chose to bury the ashes in mounds after cremation.
The Ahom people 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.
The structural construction and the process of royal burials are explained in historical documents called Chang-Rung Phukanor Buranji, which detail even the articles that were buried.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 briefly in the 17th century, and by the British after 1826.
In the past, when any king or a warrior died in a battle, their severed heads were brought and buried here. When the Chutia kingdom fell to the Ahoms in 1524, the heads of the Chutia king and his son were also buried in the tomb of Charaideo.Barua, G.C, "Ahom Buranji, p. 57
In 2000-02, Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle excavated Maidam No. 2. It retained the characteristics of a full-fledged Maidam. The Maidam vault and covering earthen mound was made out of burned bricks, and encircled by an octagonal boundary wall. There was a hole at the roof of the Maidam indicating it was robbed earlier. The arched-shaped door of the maidam was found on the western side after it was excavated, which was originally covered with bricks and stone masonry. Though already robbed it still yielded several artefacts including skeleton remains of 5 individuals, ivory decorative pieces, several pieces of wooden objects (including a Xorai designed at the shape of a pillar), an ivory panel depicting royal Ahom insignia, carvings of elephants, peacock and floral motifs etc. The exact dating of this Maidam couldn't be done, but it is estimated at the first half of the 18th century.
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