Turung people
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This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. (August 2011) |
The Turung people (also known as the Tai Turung, Thai: คนไทตุรุง) are a numerically small Buddhist community in the northeastern Indian state of Assam.
They originally migrated from Upper Burma and settled in Assam in the latter part of 18th century. On the way of their migration, they were captured and made slaves by the Singpho people and hence they have had a lot of Singpho influences on their culture, language and lifestyle.
They presently reside in certain pockets in Upper Assam in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat and Karbi Anglong.
The origin of the word Turung is although not known but many[who?] believe that it had derived from the name of a river in Patkai region named Turungpani. While another section of the people believe that the word Turung derived from the word Tai Long meaning Great Tai, since these people were of Shan origin.
Their language is basically a dialect of Tai language spoken throughout South East Asia, but it has a large influence of Singpho language. The language has become almost extinct. Only a handful of elderly people use the language.
The present population of the community is unknown but is believed to be around 10,000.
