Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced that the Government intends to develop five archaeological sites, including Assam’s very own Sivasagar, as one of “iconic sites”, along with the construction of onsite museums. Rakhigarhi in Haryana, Hastinapur in UP, Dholavira in Gujarat, and Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu are some of the other sites that have been chosen to be given “iconic” status.
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 its heart. Assam was ruled by the Ahoms for around six centuries in medieval India, and Sivasagar served as the central capital of the Ahom Kingdom from 1699 to 1788.
Various constructions and artefacts belonging to the kingdom have been discovered at the present-day archaeological sites in the region.
The Tai-speaking Ahoms came to this 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 time 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 is known to produce rice, silk, mustard, and timber.
