Mon people

Mon
ဂကူမန် (Mon)
မွန် (Burmese)
ชาวมอญ (Thai)
Flag of Mon State in Myanmar
Mon girls wearing traditional dress in Mawlamyine
Total population
c. 2.6 million
Regions with significant populations
Myanmarc. 1.8 million
Thailand500,000[citation needed]
Laos9000[citation needed]
United States8000[citation needed]
Canada650[citation needed]
Languages
Mon, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Isan, Lanna
Religion
Theravada Buddhism, Mon folk religion
Related ethnic groups

The Mon (Mon: ဂကူမန်listenⓘ; Mon: ဂကူမည်; Burmese: မွန်လူမျိုး‌, pronounced [mʊ̀ɰ̃ lù mjó]; Thai: มอญ, pronounced [mɔ̄ːn] listenⓘ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region and the Irrawaddy Delta. They also live in several areas of Thailand, mostly in Pathum Thani province, Phra Pradaeng and Nong Ya Plong. The native language is Mon, of the Monic branch of the Austroasiatic family. It shares a common origin with the Nyah Kur language, spoken by the people of the same name in Northeastern Thailand. A number of languages in Mainland Southeast Asia are influenced by the Mon language, which is also in turn influenced by those languages.

The Mon were one of the earliest to reside in Southeast Asia, and were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia. The civilizations founded by the Mon were some of the earliest in Thailand as well as Myanmar and Laos. The Mon are regarded as a large exporter of Southeast Asian culture. Historically, many cities in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos today, including Yangon, Pathum Thani, Lamphun, Lampang, and Vientiane were founded either by the Mon people or Mon rulers.

Nowadays, the Mon are a major ethnic group in Myanmar and a minor ethnic group in Thailand. The Mons from Myanmar are called Burmese Mon or Myanmar Mon. The Mons from Thailand are referred as Thai Raman or Thai Mon. The Mon dialects of Thailand and Myanmar are mutually intelligible.

Ethnonyms

The Mon have been referred to by different names by different groups throughout history. During the pre-colonial era, the Burmese called them Talaing (တလိုင်း), which was adopted by the British during the colonial era. The term "Peguan" was also used by Europeans when Pegu was the capital of Lower Myanmar.

The use of "Talaing" has been found on inscriptions dating back to the 11th century, but it is now considered pejorative and is little used. It survives in fixed historical terms, among them the eponymous song genre in the Mahagita, the corpus of Burmese classical songs. The etymology of Talaing is debated; it may be derived from Mon, or is a reference to Telinga or Kalinga, a geographic region in southeast India. During the 12th century, the term acquired a derogatory connotation within the Mon community, when it became used by the Mon as a disparaging epithet for the mixed offspring of Mon women and foreign men.

The term "Mon" (spelt မန် in Mon and မွန် in Burmese), which is synonymous with the Burmese word for 'noble,' was likely derived from Old Mon "rmeñ" by way of Middle Mon "rman" (ရာမန်). The ethnonym "rmeñ" was first recorded in the Kyanzittha's New Palace Inscription of AD 1102 in Myanmar. Derivatives of this ethnonym have been found in 6th to 10th-century Old Khmer and 11th-century Javanese inscriptions.: 44–58  One such instance is the pre-Angkorian inscription of Prasat Bassac, K.71, where ramañ stands in the name of a slave. Walailak Songsiri cites it in arguing that the Rāmanya of the Khmer inscription K.1198 need not denote a Mon country.: 3  A later Khmer instance may stand in the Preah Khan stele of Jayavarman VII, dated śaka 1113 or 1114, that is 1191 or 1192. Its closing verse asks that the people attached to the king's foundations be preserved, Pukāṃ and Rvañ among them. Cœdès took the two for Burmese and Mon; Thomas Maxwell, editing the inscription, reports the reading and does not adopt it.: 105  The geographic term Rāmaññadesa, which now refers to the Mon heartland on the Burmese coast, was coined by King Dhammazedi in 1479. The usefulness of Mon as an ethnic category has itself been questioned. Michael Aung-Thwin holds that Mon and Pyu as ethnic units are constructions of British colonial scholarship. Elizabeth Moore calls the terms over-simplistic and would read pre-Bagan Myanmar through landscape and interaction instead. Donald Stadtner defends both categories, and objects in particular to the claimed lack of archaeological evidence in lower Myanmar.: 354 

The Mon of Myanmar are divided into three sub-groups by ancestral region in Lower Myanmar. Mon Nya (မန်ည; /mòn ɲaˀ) come from Pathein (the Irrawaddy Delta) in the west, Mon Tang (မန်ဒိုင်; /mòn tàŋ/) from Bago in the central region, and Mon Teh (မန်ဒ; /mòn tɛ̀ˀ/) from Mottama in the southeast.

History

Prehistory

On a long-standing account the Mon descend from Proto-Austroasiatic speakers who migrated from the Yangtze Kiang valley in southern China to Southeast Asia between 3,000 and 2,000 BCE. The routes given are the Mekong, Salween, Sittaung, Irrawaddy, Ping and Chao Phaya rivers.: 196  They eventually settled in locations including as far south as Malaya. Along the way, they brought with them the practice of riverine agriculture, including the cultivation of wet rice. Modern linguistic research by Sidwell (2021) suggests that the locus of Proto-Austroasiatic people was in the Red River Delta area of Northern Vietnam, around 4,000–4,500 years before present.

Early history

The Ban Tha Lat Mon inscription, dated 9th century CE, was discovered in 1968 in an area where other archaeological evidence confirmed the presence of the ancient Mon people. It is now located at the Haw Phra Kaew Museum in Vientiane, Laos

The ancient Mon are believed to have been one of the earliest peoples of Mainland Southeast Asia. They established some of the earliest states in the region. These include Dvaravati in Central Thailand, whose culture spread into Northeastern Thailand, Sri Gotapura in Central Laos (modern Sikhottabong, Vientiane Prefecture),: 6, 7  the Hariphunchai Kingdom in Northern Thailand, and the Thaton Kingdom in Lower Myanmar.: 63, 76–77  The Mon were the first to receive Theravada Buddhist missionaries from Sri Lanka, in contrast to their Hindu contemporaries such as Cham peoples.: 153  An early establishment of Sri Lankan Buddhism in the Dvaravati sphere has been argued from the Sinhalese verses of the Noen Sa Bua inscription in Prachin Buri. Nicolas Revire holds that the argument carries methodological problems and has been refuted, and dates the inscription itself to the 10th or 11th century rather than the 8th.: 242, 249  They adopted the Pallava script, and the oldest form of the Mon script was discovered in a cave in modern-day Saraburi, dating back to around 550 CE. Although no remains have been found from the Thaton Kingdom, it is widely mentioned in Bamar and Lanna chronicles.

Queen regnant Camadevi Monument in Lamphun, Thailand

According to the Northern Thai Chronicles, the city of Lavo (modern Lopburi) was founded by Phaya Kalavarnadishraj in 648 CE. He reportedly came from Takkasila, which is assumed to be the city of Tak or Nakhon Chai Si.: 29  Another historical figure, Phaya Kakabatr, is believed to have also come from Takkasila and established the Chula Sakarat era in 638 CE,: 22  which was used by the Siamese and Burmese until the 19th century. Phaya Kalavarnadishraj, the son of Phaya Kakabatr, founded Lavo a decade later. By the late 7th century, Lavo had expanded to the north. The legendary Queen Camadevi, who was said to be a daughter of a Lavo king, according to the Northern Thai Chronicle Cāmadevivaṃsa, came to rule as the first queen of Hariphunchai (modern Lamphun) around 750–800 CE. A few years later, her son Prince Anantayot founded Khelang Nakhon (modern Lampang), playing a significant role in the history of the Hariphunchai Kingdom.: 28 

Charles Keyes wrote that after 1000 CE the Dvaravati Mon faced constant pressure from Tai migrations from the north and Khmer invasions from the east.: 75, 76  Many Dvaravati Mons fled to join other Mon civilizations in the present-day Lower Myanmar, while their descendants, the Nyah Kur people, still reside in Northeastern Thailand. Stephen Murphy has questioned readings of this kind. Comparing the inscribed boundary stones of Mueang Fa Daet with those of Thaton, he finds the narrative subjects similar or at times identical but the form, composition and ornament markedly different. He concludes that the lower Myanmar tradition developed on its own.: 361, 366–368  His general objection is that ideas travel more easily than people, and that a migration on the scale proposed should have left a much larger archaeological, epigraphic and artistic trace than survives.: 368  McCormick and Jenny name the assumption that readings of this kind rest on. The study of the Mon, they write, has been concerned with their originariness, the expectation that whatever Mon, Thai and Burmese share must descend from the older Mon. They point to Michael Aung-Thwin's reappraisal of the historical and archaeological evidence, while noting that many scholars do not accept it.

Christian Bauer read the same centuries from the epigraphy, as a history of language use rather than of population. Mon was in use in the lower Chao Phraya basin until the 8th or 9th century, and by 1167 the same ground must, on his reading, already have been Khmer-speaking. He took the area north of Nakhon Sawan to have been Khmer-speaking by the 10th century, and marked that as an assumption. Mon lasted longer in the region south of Lamphun and Chiang Mai, where inscriptions in it are attested from the 12th to the 13th centuries before the shift to Thai. Five Old Mon inscriptions from Chiang Mai province that Shorto's dictionary of the Mon inscriptions does not carry antedate all of those from the Lamphun sites.: 535  In the same epigraphy he named the earliest vernacular gloss in Mon that identifies an illustration, an amulet-type object of the 6th century inscribed on the obverse in Old Mon, from Chan Sen in Nakhon Sawan province.: 114  He set the practice in a regional frame, Jātaka illustrations at Pagan of the 11th and 12th centuries carrying glosses in Old Mon, and the Thai glosses on the Jātaka slabs at Wat Si Chum following the same pattern.: 109  Despite the pressure from the Northern Thai people, the Hariphunchai kingdom managed to survive as a Mon polity in Northern Thailand.

Conquest of Thaton and Hariphunchai

In 1057 CE, King Anawrahta of the Pagan Kingdom conquered the Thaton Kingdom of the Mon people in Lower Burma. The Mon culture and script had a significant influence on the Bamar, bringing the Mons under Bamar control for the first time. Despite this, the Mon remained a majority in Lower Burma.: 32, 33 

Myazedi Inscription (AD 1113) in Old Mon language in Bagan. One of the oldest surviving stone inscriptions in Myanmar.

On one hand, the Hariphunchai Kingdom of the Mon prospered during the reign of King Aditayaraj in the early 12th century. He is said to have fought wars with Suryavarman II of Angkor between 1113 and 1150 CE: 161, 195  and constructed the Hariphunchai stupa.

In 1289, Mangrai also known as Mengrai was visited by merchants from the Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai. Hearing of the wealth of that kingdom, he determined to conquer it, against the advice of his counselors. As it was thought impossible to take the city by force, Mangrai sent a merchant named Ai Fa as a mole to gain the confidence of its Phaya Yi Ba. In time, Ai Fa became the Chief Minister and managed to undermine the King's authority.: 38  In 1292, taking advantage of discontent among the people, Mangrai defeated the Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai and added it to his kingdom.: 196  Phaya Yi Ba, the last king of Hariphunchai, was forced to flee south to Lampang.: 208–209  A few years later, Phaya Yi Ba's son, King Boek of Lampang, attacked Chiang Mai with a large army. King Mangrai and his second son, Prince Khram, led the defence against the Lampang army. Prince Khram defeated King Boek in personal combat on elephant-back at Khua Mung, a village near Lamphun. King Boek fled by way of the Doi Khun Tan mountain range between Lamphun and Lampang, but he was caught and executed. King Mangrai's troops occupied the city of Lampang, and Phaya Yi Ba was made to flee further south, this time to Phitsanulok. The Mon culture was integrated into Lan Na culture. The Lan Na adopted the Mon script and religion.: 29, 30 

Hanthawaddy kingdom

In 1287, the collapse of the Pagan Kingdom: 84  created a power vacuum. Wareru, who was born to a Mon mother and a Tai father in Donwun Village in the Thaton District, went to Sukhothai for trade and later eloped with the daughter of the king. He established himself as king of the Mon in Martaban (present-day Mottama), and later moved the capital to Pegu. His Hanthawaddy Kingdom, which existed from 1287 to 1539, was a period of prosperity and power for the Mon.

Statue of King Razadarit ruled Hanthawaddy from 1384 to 1421 and successfully unified his Mon-speaking kingdom. He also successfully defended it against Ava Kingdom's attacks during the Forty Years' War.

In the mid-14th century, King Binnya U ruled over the Mon kingdom and successfully defended against an invasion by Lan Na. Despite losing control over the Tenasserim region, he was able to re-establish his capital at Pegu. After his death in 1384, King Razadarit, Binnya U's son, took over and formed an alliance with the kingdom of Arakan. King Razadarit was known for his administration skills and successfully repelling invasions from the Ava Kingdom during his reign. He made significant contributions to the Shwedagon Pagoda and is considered one of the most celebrated Mon kings in history, with his reign lasting from 1384 to 1421.

After King Razadarit's death, there were brief disputes over the succession in Pegu. Eventually, King Razadarit was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Shin Sawbu, in 1453. Queen Shin Sawbu, was a skilled politician and maintained harmony between rival kingdoms. She is remembered for her good nature, renovation of the Shwedagon Pagoda, and construction of important monasteries, such as the Kyaikmaraw near Moulmein.

King Dhammazedi, who succeeded Queen Shin Sawbu in 1470, was a just and wise ruler. He is remembered for his generosity, having donated a significant amount of gold to the Shwedagon Pagoda, as well as for building important temples in the vicinity of Pegu, including the Shwegugyi Pagoda.

Toungoo conquest and flight to Siam

In the early 16th century, the Bamar regained their momentum at Taungoo, leading to the fall of Hanthawaddy to King Tabinshwehti in 1539. This was after a devastating attack on Lower Burma, in which the northern army overran the Irrawaddy Delta and captured Pegu. The siege of Pegu lasted four years and involved Portuguese mercenaries fighting on both sides. The History of Kings attributes Tabinshwehti's success, in part, to the decadence of the Mon king, Dhammazedi's heir.

As a result of the fall of Pegu, large numbers of Mon refugees fled to Ayutthaya, where the Mon aristocracy joined the court and exercised considerable influence. Mathias Jenny holds that the Mon of Ayutthaya were migrants of this kind rather than descendants of the older Mon population of the Chao Phraya plain. How widely Mon was still spoken in the plain under Ayutthaya is not known. He dates the main migrations into Thailand from the 16th century. Victor Lieberman cites Tomé Pires for the claim that in 1515 most commoners at Ayutthaya still spoke Mon rather than Tai, which would mean that Mon speech in the plain had never lapsed. Going back to Pires's own text, McCormick and Jenny find that it says only that the language resembled that of Pegu, and read this as a superficial impression of two languages that sounded alike. Meanwhile, back in Burma, the fall of Martaban in 1541 was accompanied by massacre and pillage on a large scale, as was the capture of the old Pyu capital of Prome the following year. This marked the first time, since before the Mongol invasions, that most of Lower and Central Burma was under the control of a Bamar monarch. King Tabinshwehti, founder of the new Toungoo dynasty, celebrated by decorating the Shwedagon and other pagodas with huge amounts of plundered gold.

Although Tabinshwehti made efforts to win over the Mon, he consistently emphasized his claim to Bamar nationality and sovereignty. Nevertheless, Tabinshwehti was relatively more tolerant than later Toungoo kings who outlawed the Mon language and persecuted the Mon people.

Following Tabinshwehti's coronation in 1546, Ayutthaya launched several raids on Lower Burma, including the successful capture of Tavoy in 1548. With the Toungoo dynasty in disarray after Tabinshwehti's death in 1550, the Mon launched another bid for independence under the leadership of the legendary Mon rebel, the Smim Htaw. The Smim Htaw managed to capture the ancient settlement of Dagon and drive the Burmese from Pegu, but a series of intra-Mon disputes allowed Tabinshwehti's general, Bayinnaung, to recapture the city.

Bayinnaung allowed the Mon to govern townships and villages and to enter the military, but not to rule themselves, and they remained subordinate to the Bamar. Significant Mon uprisings took place during Bayinnaung's reign, including in 1551 and 1564 when the royal palace at Pegu was destroyed.

Following the death of King Bayinnaung, his successor King Nanda instituted oppressive policies against the Mon people, leading to the Mon chiefs Phaya Kiat and Phaya Ram attempting to assassinate Naresuan of Phitsanulok in 1584. However, they learned that Naresuan was not responsible for the policies and instead joined his campaigns against the Toungoo court.

In the 17th century, the Bamar king Anaukpetlun launched a counter-attack against the Mon rebels and captured their stronghold at Syriam. Eventually, the Mon lands were retaken, and the capital was moved to Pegu. An unsuccessful Mon uprising occurred in Martaban in 1661, which led to the pursuit of fleeing Mon refugees into Ayutthaya via the Three Pagodas Pass.

Konbaung rule and migration to Siam

In the early 18th century, the power of the Bamar declined rapidly. The Mon rebels joined forces with the Gwe Shan to restore their former Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and in 1740, a monk with Taungoo royal lineage was made king of Pegu. Binnya Dala succeeded him in 1747, and with French support, the Mon established an independent kingdom called the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. The kingdom fell to the Bamar king Alaungpaya in 1757. Tens of thousands of Mon civilians died in the invasion, among them monks, pregnant women and children. The victorious Bamar soldiers massacred over 3,000 Mon monks in the capital city alone. During the Konbaung dynasty of Burma, the Mon people experienced harsh rule and massacres that led to a significant migration to Siam and Lanna. In addition to facing widespread violence and persecution, the Mon rebelled multiple times, including at Dagon during the reign of Hsinbyushin, resulting in the destruction of the city. In 1814, the Mon rebelled again, but were harshly put down yet again. These uprisings played a major role in the large wave of Mon migration from Burma to Siam.

Rama I – founder of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam (now Thailand)

In Siam, Phraya Pichai and Phraya Chakri, both descended from Mon aristocrats who had moved there in 1584, became the chief commanders of King Taksin of Thonburi after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1767. They led much of his campaigning against the Burmese occupation and for the reunification of the kingdom. King Taksin himself also was a Sino-Mon descent and his maternal grandmother was a sister to chief of Siam's Mon community.

After the collapse of Taksin's Thonburi Kingdom, Phraya Chakri founded the Chakri dynasty and ascended the throne in 1782 as Rama I. Rama I was born to Thongdi, a leading Mon nobleman serving the royal court in Ayutthaya in 1737. Rama I's queen consort Amarindra was born to a wealthy Mon family who migrated to Siam in the earlier times. Rama I founded Bangkok City and moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok. A large Mon migration from Burma to Siam followed in 1814. His grandson Prince Mongkut, later Rama IV, went to the Siam-Burma border to receive them.

The Mon in Thailand settled mainly in certain areas of Central Thailand, such as Pak Kret in Nonthaburi, Phra Pradaeng in Samut Prakan and Ban Pong, among other minor Mon settlements. Mon-speaking villages also stood further north, in the area of Lampang and Lamphun. McCormick and Jenny use Thai Mon, in Thai Thai Rāman, for these communities, which are thought to have originated in Burma in recent centuries, and distinguish them from Mon who have crossed the border in recent decades. Mon communities built their own Buddhist temples. Over time, the Mons were effectively integrated into Siamese society and culture, although maintaining some of their traditions and identity.

British rule and Mon nationalism

An ethnic Mon woman in Thailand, in 1904.

Burma was conquered by the British in a series of wars. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, the Mon territories in Burma were completely under the control of the British. British rule ended that of the Bamar monarchy over the Mon. Under the monarchy the Mon had been massacred after the loss of their kingdom and many had sought asylum in Siam. The British did not restore the Mon kingdom, and they crushed Mon resistance.

In Siam the Mon villages kept a degree of autonomy into the early 20th century, in education among other things, although bilingualism in Thai was widespread. A change in Thai law in the 1930s barred education in any language but central Thai. McCormick and Jenny add that the Mon of Siam were never cut off from Lower Burma, contact being kept up through pilgrimage, trade and monastic networks.

In 1947, Mon National Day was established to commemorate the founding of Hanthawady, the last Mon Kingdom which was centered in Pegu. The holiday is observed on the full moon of the 11th month of the Mon lunar calendar, except in Phrapadaeng, Thailand where it coincides with the Songkran festival.

The Mon soon became anti-colonialists. Following the grant of independence to Burma in 1948, they sought self-determination. U Nu, the first Prime Minister of Burma refused the Mon self-determination. Mon separatist groups have risen in revolt against the central Burmese government on a number of occasions, initially under the Mon People's Front and from 1962 through the New Mon State Party (NMSP). The BSSP-led government established a partially autonomous Mon State in 1974 out of portions of Tenasserim and Pegu regions. Resistance continued until 1995 when NMSP and ruling SLORC agreed a cease-fire and, in 1996, the Mon Unity League was founded.

Present distribution and diaspora

Nowadays, the Mon are a major ethnic group in Myanmar and a minor ethnic group in Thailand. The Mons from Myanmar are called Burmese Mon or Myanmar Mon. The Mons from Thailand are referred as Thai Raman or Thai Mon.

Due to the post-independence internal conflict in Myanmar, many ethnic Mon from conflict zones have migrated to the First World countries via the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar borders and in Malaysia. The Myanmar Mon refugee communities can be found in the United States (the largest community being in Fort Wayne, Indiana and the second largest being Akron, Ohio), Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Language

Mon script on the Myakan inscription (ca. 1084–1112 CE)

The Mon language is part of the Monic group of the Austroasiatic languages (also known as Mon–Khmer language family), closely related to the Nyah Kur language and more distantly related to Khmer and Vietnamese. The writing system is based on Indic scripts. The Mon language is one of the earliest documented vernacular languages of Mainland Southeast Asia.

Many languages in the region have been influenced by the Mon language. Tai Tham alphabet and Burmese alphabet are adaptations of the Mon script. Tai Tham alphabet is primarily used for Northern Thai language, Tai Lue language, Khün language and Lao Tham language. The Burmese alphabet is used for Burmese language, Shan language, S'gaw Karen language and other languages.

Historically, the Tai adopted the Mon alphabet, which the Tai developed into their own writing systems as the Tai Tham alphabet, for the Thai Yuan people in the northern Thailand.

Although Thai adopted more features from the Old Khmer alphabet than from the Mon, plenty of vocabulary in Thai language today were derived from the Mon language. Structural influence is harder to show. Jenny finds none in the Thai dialects long in contact with Mon, although Thai is typologically closer to Mon than Burmese is. He puts the difference down to the socio-political setting rather than to the languages themselves, communication and state centralisation being further advanced in Siam than in Burma. Burmese has derived and borrowed vocabulary from the Mon language, especially related to administration, architecture, cloth, cuisine and flowers. Borrowing ran the other way as well. In the Old Mon inscriptions of northeast Thailand Christian Bauer identified Khmer loan words, among them kuruṅ and the royal title kamrateṅ p(h)dai karom, and read two demonstratives as Khmer calques. The royal title appears there for the first time in a Mon inscription. Reporting these, Nicolas Revire suggests they may point to Mon–Khmer bilingualism in the region.: 246–247 

Nowadays, the Mon language is recognised as an indigenous language in both Myanmar and Thailand. Due to the fall in number of Mon language speakers in the recent decades, Mon was classified as a "vulnerable" language in UNESCO's 2010 Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. In Thailand the shift has gone further. Jenny reports heavy structural influence from Thai in every Mon dialect of the country, few children now growing up with Mon, and remaining adult speakers who are better described as semi-speakers. On Ko Kret, a river island north of Bangkok where Mon is still spoken by the elderly, its second register is giving way to the low tone of Thai. McCormick and Jenny record a Thai Mon school principal at Phra Pradaeng, interviewed in 2009, who had not spoken Thai until she began school at about five, in the late 1940s. Self-identified Thai Mon may number in the millions, while active speakers are probably about 50,000, a figure McCormick and Jenny take from Ethnologue. They report that Burma Mon speakers often misread Thai Mon sentences, and give the growing number of Burmese words in Burma Mon as one reason the two varieties are drifting apart. Mon in Thailand has become an almost wholly oral language, and they use Thai Mon as a shorthand for its dialects there. On their reading, Thai Mon speakers have replicated Thai patterns more thoroughly than Mon speakers in Burma have replicated Burmese.

The language has an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 speakers

Genetics

The place of the Mon among the populations of Thailand is disputed. Suparat Srithawong and colleagues reported a close genetic relationship between the central Thai and the Mon of Thailand, whom they take to have migrated from southern Myanmar, from autosomal microsatellites. Changmai and colleagues, reanalysing genome-wide data, found no clear evidence for continuity or admixture between the two. Their f4 statistics place the Mon closer to most other groups in Thailand than to the central Thai, and the central Thai closer to most other groups than to the Mon. They caution that the complex history of both groups may affect the statistic and that the result does not entirely dismiss a close relationship.: 7–8  Two central Thai individuals in their sample, both from Photharam district in Ratchaburi province, share haplotypes with the Mon at a level unusual for any population in Thailand, and other individuals from the same district do not.: 8 

South Asian-related ancestry has been reported in the Mon by three studies with authors in common, on three marker systems and on small samples. Wibhu Kutanan and colleagues found additional affinity toward South Asian populations in five groups of Thailand and Laos, the Mon among them.: 3461  Among eighteen Mon men sampled in northern Thailand, Brunelli and colleagues found the Y-chromosome lineage R-P249 in three and J-M172 in one, lineages usually found in South, Central and West Asia. They read the origin of the Mon as related to South Asia, with later Tai admixture as the main shaping force, and put it no more strongly than that it could have been so.: 10  An earlier mitochondrial study by Kutanan and colleagues placed the Mon centrally among the Tai populations of northern Thailand, and connected this to accounts of Tai men marrying Mon women. The authors held that only more markers and more individuals would settle it.: 7 

Culture

Symbol

Ceremonial helmet of Queen regnant Shin Sawbu, now at the V&A Museum, London

The symbol of the Mon people is the hongsa (Mon: ဟံသာ, [hɔŋsa]), a mythological water bird that is often illustrated as a swan. It is commonly known by its Burmese name, hintha (Burmese: ဟင်္သာ, IPA: [hɪ́ɰ̃θà]) or its Thai name: hong (หงส์). The hongsa is the state symbol of Myanmar's Bago Region and Mon State, two historical Mon strongholds. Also, the hongsa is the city symbol of Thailand's Pak Kret City, a historical Mon settlement area.

Music

Khong mon in Thai-Mon style
The musical instrument known as 'Kyam' in Thai-Mon style is also called 'Chakhe'

Mon culture and traditional heritages includes spiritual dances, musical instruments such as the kyam or "crocodile xylophone", the la gyan hsaing gong chime, the saung harp and a flat stringed instrument. Mon dances are usually played in a formal theater or sometimes in an informal district of any village. The dances are followed by background music using a circular set of tuned drums and claps, crocodile xylophone, gongs, flute, flat guitar, harp, violin, etc. Mon music also had a place at the Siamese court. Christian Bauer recorded that it was performed at royally sponsored cremations until the third reign of the Chakri dynasty, and doubted that the Chakri kings introduced the practice, suggesting that they drew on a tradition already in place. The Thai epic Khun Chang Khun Phaen carries lines of Mon song in Mon, and their Thai spellings follow the way the language was pronounced at the time.: 257 

Art

Pottery

The Mon people in Siam have been producing pottery for over 200 years. Their ancestors settled in Koh Kret and Nakhon Sawan, using their pottery making skills to earn a living in both places. The area is known for its high-quality clay and the Mon pottery, including containers and decorative items, is a symbol of their heritage and expertise. The pottery is made of porous earthenware in light orange to red color and features unique designs inspired by nature. Despite technological advancements, the Mon continue to preserve this traditional handicraft.

Floral umbrellas

Floral umbrellas have a long history in Mon culture, dating back to ancient times. Inscriptions from northern Thailand mention umbrellas and palm-leaf manuscripts in Mon religious ceremonies under the Hariphunchai Kingdom of the 7th to 13th centuries. Today, floral umbrellas are still used in various ceremonies and festivals throughout Mon communities, such as weddings, ordinations, and temple fairs, and remain an important part of Mon cultural heritage.

Literature

Mon literature is a rich collection of works created by the Mon people in Myanmar and Thailand, including chronicles, poems, songs, folktales, and religious texts. "Lik Smin Asah" is a legendary tale about the founding of Pegu. "Sangada" is a well-known Mon folktale, adapted into Thai and Laotian literature as "Sangsinchay". "Rājādhirāj" or "Razadarit" is a chronicle of the Mon king, translated into Burmese as "Razadarit Ayedawbon" and into Thai as "Rachathirat." It belongs to the Rājāvaṁsa Kathā, a collection of Mon historical narratives printed at Pāk Lat near Bangkok. McCormick and Jenny call it one of the most complete examples of a Thai-Mon composition. Mon literature is considered important cultural heritage in Myanmar and Thailand. These works are highly valued for their cultural and historical significance.

Religion

The Mon people have a mix of spiritual beliefs and Theravada Buddhism as their religion, with a majority of them practicing the mixture. Before Buddhism, three traditional beliefs were followed in the Mon Kingdom, including belief in Kalok (spirits), Isi (holy hermits), and Hinduism. The Mon people traditionally believed in various types of Kaloks (spirits), including family/clan kalok, guardian kalok of the house, town, village, farms, forest, and mountain. Kalok is considered to be a spirit, demon, or immaterial being that can take on a visible form.

Festivals

Mon National Day celebration in Bago, Myanmar (2019)
Mon Youth Day celebration

Festivals celebrating Mon culture are an important part of the Mon community in Myanmar and Thailand. One such festival is the Loi Hamod Festival, which has its roots in the Hariphunchai era and is believed to be the precursor to the Loi Krathong Festival. While the festival is still observed in some Mon communities in Lamphun Province, it is now referred to as "Jong Gring", which is derived from other Mon cultural practices and means "Loi Krathong". The Jong Gring tradition of the Mon of Lamphun differs from the general Loi Krathong festival. It resembles the older "Loi Hamod" of the Mon of Hariphunchai, in which fresh and dried food is offered and lanterns and small krathongs are lit.: 7, 8 

Another traditional Mon festival is the Luknoo Festival, which marks the end of the monsoon season and the beginning of the new year. It involves the launch of homemade rockets, food offerings to spirits, and cultural activities such as music, dance, and games. The festival is an important part of Mon culture and helps to connect with the community, preserve traditions, and bring good luck for the coming year.

The Mon Floating Boat Festival is another traditional festival celebrated during the Mon New Year. It features boat races, music, dance, feasting, releasing lanterns, and gift exchanging. The festival brings the Mon community together to make offerings for peace and prosperity.

The Hae Hang Hong Tong Ta Khab Festival, also known as the Tawai Tong Ta Khab Festival, is an important tradition of the Mon people in Thailand, primarily in Pathum Thani, Pak Kret, and Phra Pradaeng. The festival is held during the Songkran festival and features a parade of flags that move towards the Hongsa Pole to offer tribute to the Buddha. Prior to the festival, the flags are prepared through the collective efforts of many individuals who come together to sew and decorate them.

During the Songkran festival in Thailand, the Mon residents of Phra Pradaeng district host unique Mon traditional ceremonies and folklore performances. These festivals and traditions are a testament to the rich cultural heritage of the Mon people and serve as an important way to pass down their history and customs to future generations.

Traditional dress

Mon women wear traditional shawl-like Sbai, known as Yat Toot in Mon language, diagonally over the chest covering one shoulder with one end dropping behind the back. This tradition distinguished Mon women from other 134 ethnic groups in Myanmar. Archaeological evidence from the Dvaravati era portrays that Dvaravati ladies wearing what seems to be a piece of Sbai hanging from their shoulder. Mon people of Myanmar and Thailand today are the descendants of Dvaravati.

Mon men in Myanmar wear clothes similar to the Bamars. Those living in Thailand have adopted Thai style garments. It seems that Mon clothing has been shaped through its dynastic traditions as well as external influences.

Thanaka is a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark that is widely used in Myanmar, particularly by the Mon people. It is applied to the face, arms and legs as a form of sun protection and to beautify the skin. Thanaka has been a part of Mon culture for centuries and remains an important part of traditional beauty and skincare practices in the country.

Cuisines

Htamanè glutinous rice
Mon inspired Khao Chae

Mon cuisines and culinary traditions have had significant influences on the Burmese cuisine and Central Thai cuisine today. Some of dishes that are now popular in Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand were originally Mon dishes. For example, Htamanè (ထမနဲ) in Myanmar, and Khanom chin and Khao chae in Thailand. A traditional Mon dish served with rice soaked with cool candle-and-jasmine-scented water is consumed by the Mon people during the Thingyan (Songkran) Festival in the summer. In Thailand, the dish is known as Khao chae (ข้าวแช่) and was considered "royal cuisine". As the dish is served during Thingyan as part of their merit-making, it is known as Thingyan rice (သင်္ကြန်ထမင်း) in Myanmar today. Like Cambodian, Lao, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, fermented fish seasoning are used in Mon cuisine.

Folk games

Many games in both Myanmar and Thailand were Mon origins. Among them, Len Saba (lit. 'saba tossing game'; Mon: ဝိုင်မ်ဟနဂ်; Burmese: ဂုံညင်းဒိုး), Lor Kon Krok (Rolling a Mortar Bottom) and Mon Son Pa (Mon Hides a Cloth) are the most famous Mon traditional children games and are recognised as Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Recent discovery

Recent archaeological discoveries in Phitsanulok province, Thailand, have revealed two new sites named "Pha Pang Peuy," discovered in September 2025 in the Phu Khat Wildlife Sanctuary. These sites, found on a mountaintop, likely offer crucial evidence for studying the history and archaeology of the Mon people and their interactions in the region.

Notable people

See also

References

Citations

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  154. ↑ ":: Kao Wao News Group". 2005-10-23. Archived from the original on 2005-10-23. Retrieved 2019-09-06.

Sources

Further reading

Notes

  1. ↑ According to CIA Factbook, the Mon make up 2% of the total population of Myanmar (55 million), or approximately 1.8 million people.
  2. 1 2 3 4 The exact number of Mon living in other countries is unknown. They are usually counted as Burmese, Siamese or other Asian in censuses.
  3. ↑ The name "Mangrai" is the historical name used in most modern scholarly applications. "Mengrai," which was popularized by a 1907 publication, is more commonly found in popular usage. "Meng" is the Thai Yuan ethnonym for the Mon people