Talaing

The Talaings in Burma, who retain the use of their own language and keep up their separate nationality , are found chiefly in the Thaton and Amherst districts. In Siam they are found chiefly on the Menam and Meklawng rivers, living in separate villages and maintaining their own customs.

Today the Mon-speaking Talaing still occupy parts of southern Burma.

A mythological duck To fully appreciate a trip to Bago 8, the visitor should first understand the history of the Talaing (Mon) people. Like the Pyu — predecessors of the Bamar — they originally came from the north. The Talaing, who arrived before the Pyu, ventured down the Thanlwin River rather than the Ayeyarwady. Theirs was the “Golden Land of Suvannabhumi”, which stretched from what is today Malaysia to. the Bay of Bengal. The Talaing built their capital, Thaton, on the east side of the Sittoung (Sittang) River.

One of the most important issues enmeshed in the historiography of early Burma is the notion of the “downtrodden Talaing.” This is the belief that King Alaungpaya in the eighteenth century had conducted a war of extermination of the Mon people, enslaved them, and had deliberately created a derogatory Burmese term (talaing) to be used thenceforth for the Mon people.

EINGSAUNG In the folk beliefs of the Burman and Talaing people of Burma, these nats are benevolent house guardians that dwell in the south corner of the home in a post decorated with leaves. They are propitiated with offerings of coconuts.