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If you will travel in Kanchanaburi and Sangkalaburi in west - central Thailand, you will
meet many Mon people, especially near the Burmese border. The city of Lampun in north Thailand, known to be the center
of the ancient Mon kingdom of Haripunchai.
The Mon (also sometimes called Talaing) people have for centuries lived in the area of present-day Thailand and Burma
(Myanmar). They speak the Mon language, part of the widely distributed Mon-Khmer language group; racially they are
similar to other Southeast Asians. Although no reliable population figures exist, Mon speakers are estimated to number
about 1,130,000 in Burma and less than 200,000 in Thailand.
Inscriptions in the Mon language have been found dating from as early as the 6th century. The early Mon states were
organized according to Indian political principles and were headed by god-kings. Mon kingdoms in Thailand disappeared as
Thai influence expanded in the 13th century. Those in Lower Burma frequently were at war with Burmese states that were
located farther north. Even after the last important Mon kingdom fell in the 16th century, Mon resistance continued;
many refugees fled to Thailand, their descendants comprising the present Mon population there.
The Burmese adopted much from Mon culture, including their writing system. The Mon are said to have been the first
Theravada Buddhists in Southeast Asia; their monastic discipline and ritual are highly respected even today.
Mon culture shares much with that of other lowland Southeast Asian peoples. Most Mon are rice cultivators, and nearly
all are Theravada Buddhists.
Kinship is reckoned through both the mother's and father's line. Traditional Mon spirit beliefs included a cult of
totemic spirits that were the object of rather elaborate taboos. An ancestral spirit was a central focus of the kalok
dance, an all day ceremony overseen by a specialist in the supernatural.
Today distinctive Mon cultural practices in most areas in Thailand are much attenuated, and most people with Mon
ancestry have lost the ability to speak Mon. In Burma more of Mon traditional culture has been maintained. A political
movement seeking the formation of a new Mon state in Burma has been actively opposed by the Burmese government.
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