Mon people
The
Mon (; ) are an
ethnic group in
Southeast Asia. They live in an area around the southern
Thailand-Burmese border, historic lower
Burma. There are believed to be around 8 million people who claim Mon ancestry and retain their culture and language but the majority of the Mon (possibly 4 million) use the modern Burmese language for daily business, and are literate only in Burmese (not in their mother tongue). As with many other ethnic minorities in modern Burma, the Mon feel that they are under pressure to either assimilate into Burmese culture, or flee; the largest Mon refugee communities are currently in Thailand, with smaller communities in
Laos,
China, and other countries around the world. The majority of Mon lives around the city of
Bagan or the site of their historic capital, the port of
Mawlamyine; they also constitute a significant percentage of the population further south along the lowland coast to the city of
Ye.
Pre-colonial
The Mon were one of the earliest distinct groups to occupy Burma, moving into the area as early as 1500 BCE, or possibly earlier. The Mon are primarily associated with the historical kingdoms of
Dvaravati and
Haripunchai; up until the 14th century, outposts of Mon culture continued to spread very far east, including modern Thai and Issan plateau cities such as
Lampang and
Khon Kaen. As late as the 14th and 15th centuries, it is believed that the Mon were the ethnic majority in this vast region, but intermarried freely with Cambodian and Tai-Kadai populations. Archaeological remains of Mon settlements have been found south of
Vientiane, and may also have extended further to the north-west in the
Haripunchai era.
The Mon converted to Theravada Buddhism at a very early point in their history; unlike other ethnic groups in the region, they seem to have adopted Theravada orthodoxy before coming into contact with Mahayana tendencies, and it is generally believed that the Mon provided the link of transmission whereby both Thais and Cambodians converted from Hindu/Mahayanism to Theravada Buddhism (increasingly from the 15th century). Although the precise date cannot be fixed, it seems that the Mon have been practicing Theravada Buddhism continuously for a longer period than any other (extant) religious community on earth, as the lineage was destroyed in India, and repeatedly disrupted by invasions in
Sri Lanka.
Like the Burmese and the Thais, some modern Mons have tried to identify their ethnicity with the semi-historical kingdom of
Suwarnabhumi; today, this claim is contested by many different ethnicities in South-East Asia, and contradicted by scholars. Historical scholarship indicates that the early usage of the term (as found in the edicts of
Ashoka) indicated a location in Southern India, and not in South-East Asia. However, from the time of the first translations of the Ashokan inscriptions in the 19th century, both the Burmese and the Thais have made concentrated efforts to identify place-names found in the edicts with their own territory or culture; sometimes these claims have also relied upon the creative interpretation of place-names found in Chinese historical sources.
A
Mon dynasty ruled
Lower Burma after the fall of the Pagan dynasty from 1287 to 1539 with a brief revival during 1550-53. At first
Martaban was the capital of this kingdom and then
Pegu. The Mon king
Rajadhirat, who waged war with the northern Burman kingdom of Ava during the whole duration of his reign, unified and consolidated the Mon kingdom's domains in Lower Burma.
The most famous Mon monarchs during this period were
Queen Baña Thau (Burmese: Shin Sawbu; reigned 1453-1472) followed by
Dhammazedi (reigned 1472-92). Queen Baña Thau personally chose Dhammazedi to succeed her. Dhammazedi had been a monk before he became king of Pegu. Under Dhammazedi, Pegu became a centre of commerce and Theravadan Buddhism. These two devout Buddhist monarchs initiated a long period of peace in Lower Burma.
The last Mon kingdom was
Hongsavatoi - they reconquered much of their lost territory until the energetic Burman leader
U Aungzeya forced them back and captured the kingdom by
1757. The Mon religious leaders were forced to flee to
Siam and the Mon have been harshly repressed from the 1750s to the present day.
Colonial
Burma, including the Mon territories, was conquered by the
British by
1824 after the
Second Anglo-Burmese War. The Mon aided the British in the overthrow of the Burman monarchy.Mon were under Burmans' massacre as they lost their kingdom and sought asylum under the Thai Kingdom. During which time, the British Invasion to Burma saved Mon to survive from Burmans' massacre in the Southern Burma until today.
Post-colonial
The Mon soon became anti-colonialists and following the grant of independence to Burma in
1948 they sought self-determination,
U Nu refused them this and they rose in revolt to be crushed again.
They have remained a repressed and defiant group in the country since then. They 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. A partially autonomous Mon state,
Monland, was created in
1974 covering
Tenasserim,
Pegu and
Ayeyarwady River. Resistance continued until
1995 when NMSP and
SLORC agreed a cease-fire and in
1996 the
Mon Unity League was founded. SLORC troops continued to operate in defiance of the agreement.
In
1947 Mon National Day was created to celebrate the ancient founding of
Hongsawatoi, the last Mon Kingdom, which had its seat in Pegu. (It follows the full moon on the 11th month of the
Mon lunar calendar, except in
Phrapadaeng, Thailand, where it is celebrated at
Songkran.)
The
Mon language is part of the Monic
Mon-Khmer branch of the
Austro-Asiatic family, related to
Khmer. The writing system is
Indic based. The Burmans took and adapted the Mon alphabet following their conquest.
*
Haripunchai*
History of Burma*
Suwannaphum*
List of Mon monarchs*
Dating and Range of Mon Inscriptions*
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