Nyah Kur people

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nyah Kur
Southeast Asia
.

The Nyah Kur (known in

ethnic group native to Thailand in Southeast Asia. Closely related to the Mon people, the Nyah Kur are the descendants of the Mon of Dvaravati who did not flee westward or assimilate when their empire fell under the influence of the Khmer when Suryavarman I gained the throne in the early 11th century.[3]

History

The Mon were believed to be one of the earliest people of continental Southeast Asia where they founded some of the earliest recorded civilizations in the region including the Dvaravati in Central Thailand, Sri Gotapura in Central Laos,

Tai migrations from the north and Khmer invasions from the east. When Suryavarman I, the Khmer heir to the throne of the Lavo Kingdom, also became ruler of the Khmer Empire, the vast majority of the Mon of Dvaravati fled west to other Mon lands, were taken as slaves or assimilated to the new culture.[3]

However a small remnant remained in the remote jungles of the

endonym Mon is unknown to the Nyah Kur, having remained isolated in the mountains between Central and Northeastern Thailand allowed the Nyah Kur to maintain their own ethnic identity which developed independently from the Mon during the last thousand years yet in some respects shows remarkable similarity to modern Mon culture.[3]

Today, the Nyah Kur live in small villages distributed in a north-south strip that crosses

Chaiyaphum provinces, the majority living in Chaiyaphum. The Thai refer to them as ชาวบน meaning "upper people" or "sky people". Their self-designation is Nyah Kur, which in the Nyah Kur language means "mountain folk" and in modern Mon translates to "hill plantation people".[3]

Language

The

Thai alphabet
is used. In 1984, a Nyah Kur-Thai-English dictionary was published.

Culture

In modern times, the Nyah Kur have had increasing contact with the surrounding Thai and Kuy population resulting modernization, migration and integration of cultures. Nyah Kur villages today are a mix of ethnic Nyah Kur and Thai-Lao families.[

Theravada Buddhism although traditional spirits, including Jao Paw Kun Dahn and Jao Paw Samian, are still worshiped.[citation needed] The Pah Re Re, a traditional courting celebration similar to that of the Mon,[3] is still practiced, usually around the time of the Thai Songkran.[citation needed
]

References

  1. ISBN 974-563-785-8
  2. ^ Premsrirat, Suwilai (2002). Bauer, Robert S. (ed.). "The Future of Nyah Kur". Collected Papers on Southeast Asian and Pacific Languages. Australian National Univ., Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies: 155–165.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hla, Nai Pan (1992). The Significant Role of the Mon Language and Culture in Southeast Asia (part 1). Tokyo, Japan: Institute for the Study of Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
  4. ^ Southeast Asian Languages Mon-Khmer Languages Project
  5. ^ a b Nyah Kur reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nyah_Kur_people&oldid=1152346038"