The Tai Aiton are one among the six indigenous Tai communities of

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. They are Animist and

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

by religion. They speak the Tai Aiton language, which is similar to other

Tai languages The Tai, Zhuang–Tai, or Daic languages (Ahom language, Ahom: 𑜁𑜪𑜨 𑜄𑜩 or 𑜁𑜨𑜉𑜫 𑜄𑜩 ; ; or , ; , ) are a branch of the Kra–Dai languages, Kra–Dai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spo ...

spoken in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. They have been recognized as Scheduled Tribes (Hills) and are listed as Man-Tai speaking people by the Government of

. Their population is unknown but is expected to be less than 8,000. The other indigenous Assamese communities commonly term them as Shyams or the people from Siam i.e.

. The names of their villages are directly translatable into modern Thai, as both sounds and meaning correspond. Man Tai Speaking people are not Ahom people as many may confuse them to be.

History

They came to Assam far back in the 16th-17th century from the east crossing the

Patkai The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Patkaing Taungdan'') are a series of mountains on the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. I ...

hills. They are Hinayana Buddhists and their language is close to that of North Eastern Thailand.

Distribution

Presently they live in small pockets in Upper Assam along with the Turung and Khamyang people. They live in certain villages of

Jorhat Jorhat ( /) is a major city in Upper Assam division, Upper Assam and among the fastest growing urban centres in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and ...

, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong districts.

References

{{Hill tribes of Northeast India Tai peoples Tribes of Assam Scheduled Tribes of Assam Ethnic groups in Northeast India