GUWAHATI, April 7 — The maidams of Charaideo in Sivasagar District are unique monuments. The practice of burying the dead ones, as has been found in the maidams, is to be found nowhere in the rest of India. The structure of the one excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is also huge and unique. It resembles only the Egyptian pyramids, said Dr Syed Jamal Hasan, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI’s Guwahati Circle.
Dr Hasan, who was the director of the excavation works of the Maidam No. 2 of the four maidams, declared as centrally protected sites by the Government of India and conserved by the ASI, also said that the culture as depicted in the maidams might have come from China or other areas of the south-east Asia.
Elaborating, Dr Hasan, who was talking to The Assam Tribune here today, said that the structures of the maidams are entirely different from the Hindu or Muslim architectures of the country. Though octagonal designs, as found in the enclosure walls of the maidams, are found in the monuments of other areas of the country, here, in these Assam monuments, the double dome type of structure was not used. That is why the ASI wants to put the maidams of Charaideo area on the heritage site map, Dr Hasan said.
The ASI team which did the excavation of Maidam No.2, also comprised Sri Bimal Sinha, Assistant Archaeologist, Sri Pradip Mazumdar and Sri Ashok Kumar — both Draftsmen, Sri AK Gupta and Sri Jitumoni Das, among others, worked between December 16, 2002 and March 29 last to complete the archaeological operation.
The length of the outer side octagonal wall of the excavated maidam was 131 metre, while its interior was 95 metre in diametre. This outside structure was built over a 6.30 metre of filled earth composed of red soil dominantly and sandy soil and sticky clay formed the other two components of the soil cover.
Beneath this was the inner structure of the maidam buried. The height of the outer dimension of this structure was 9.15 metre and its inner dimension was 5.05 metre in height. This was the structure inside which the dead persons were kept. The opening of the door of this structure was 1.9 metre. The thickness of the wall of the inner structure was 3.75 metre, while the size of the room chamber was 5.35 metre by 4.40 metre. While it is evident that the thickness of the wall is much, the opening of the door was not at the centre of the front wall, said Sri Bimal Sinha and Sri Pradip Mazumdar.
There were four types of burnt bricks used in this maidam according to their size, — i.e. 26x17x3.5 cm, 27x21x4 cm, 25x18x3.5 cm and 26x18x3.5 cm, they said and added that the bricks of larger dimension were much used in the construction of the monument. There was also use of boulders to strengthen the inner structure. The door was sealed with bricks, boulders and lime-surkhi mortar, which had a thickness of 50 cm. Besides, there was a layer of about 3 metre long heap of boulders, said Sri Sinha and Sri Mazumdar.
They also said that sticky soil was dominantly used in the area surrounding the inner structure of the monument. Earlier, delivering the 92nd foundation day talk of the Kamarupa Anusandhana Samiti (The Assam Research Society) on the latest archaeological excavations in Assam with special reference to Charaideo, Dr Hasan said here this morning that the plan of the inner structure of the Maidam No.2 was rectangular. The entrance of the structure was from the western side and the platform where the bodies were kept was also in an east-west direction. There were five skulls, large number of human bones, two to three wooden objects with engraved ivory and few designs, besides a number of ivory objects with the figures of dragon and elephant carved on them, among the objects found inside the monument.
Also, there were three golden leaves, each of 2 cm in length, and some copper objects with fixed wood remains and three jaws in the list of the objects, he said. During the excavation, it was found that there was a hole in the maidam and it was filled with soil. This suggests that some people had entered the maidam in search of the treasure-trove. This act has disturbed the monument, he said.
The maidam had a foundation of 50 cm and that was erected with four courses of burnt bricks over a layer of river boulders. With the excavation now over, the ASI is planning preparation of reports as well as conservation of the monument. The ASI has conserved the octagonal enclosure wall during this financial year, Dr Hasan said. He also provided the audience the latest information about the ASI excavation in the Talatalghar, another important archaeological monument of the mediaeval period of the State’s history, besides making a reference to the ASI’s works in the Surya Pahar area.
The ASI, Dr Hasan said, extended excavation towards north eastern side of the Talatalghar and studied the pathway, buried under the debris of more than one metre. The pathway was exposed to a length between 35 metres and 40 metres, Dr Hasan said. The section of the pathway was also studied and the platform excavated last year, was restored as per the original with the help of combination materials, he said.
The ASI also found a terracota pipeline in the excavated area. This pipeline was used for supplying drinking water to Talatalghar. Besides, the original outlet on the western side of the monument was also excavated upto about 40 metres. This system was laid for carrying out the rain water from the roof top of the monument. This has also been restored, Dr Hasan said.
Noted linguist and former president of the Anusandhan Samiti Dr Pramod Chandra Bhattacharyya released the Murari Charan Das Commemoration volume of the Journal of Assam Research Society (both the English and Assamese editions) and the Assamese version of the Hara-Gauri Sambad in the function. While Sri Kanak Chandra Sharma edited the Assam Research Society’s Journal, late Dr Biswanarayan Sashtri and Dr Narendranath Sarma jointly translated and compiled the Hara-Gauri Sambad.
Noted historian and Anusandhana Samiti president Dr JN Phukan in his presidential address, said that the excavated maidam might be that of Swargadeo Rudra Singha, as per the accounts of Chang-Rung Phukan. The excavation of the maidam will help studying the historical materials relating to the Ahom period, in total, he said.
On the issue of unauthorised/unethical digging of the maidams, he said that before 1663 AD, it was the Moghul general Mirjumla who dug the maidams. Swargadeo Purandar Singha also ordered digging of many maidams, while the Britishers also dug many of these monuments. Only some maidams are left untouched today, he said. Moreover, after 1971, many maidams were also levelled by some people for the purpose of raising tea plantation, he said. The function was also addressed by Anusandhana Samiti secretary Dr Nishipada Dev Choudhury and its joint secretary Gojendra Adhikary.