Traditional Skills and Knowledge of the Tai People of NE India

Abstract

Historically, the Northeastern part of India is, nowadays, the geographically inhabited location, where, long ago, the racial groups of Mongoloid people have settled down. So far as we know thoroughly, the Mongoloid were very rich of various language families such as the speakers of Indo-Chinese language belonged under Mon-Khmer family etc. The other groups of Indo-Chinese language such as Siamese-Chinese etc., were known and realized well, and especially, Shan was grouped and included in the earlier said Siamese-Chinese as well.

Primarily, the group of Shan or Tai people, according to the credible ethnic history, was found the existence in Yunnan. After that, they emigrated from the valley in the Southern part of Yunnan to the Shweli valley, where was located in the upper part of Burma in the sixth century. Afterwards, in the thirteenth century, the Tai Ahom minority people entered into Assam and then they, nowadays, still live in this state, where is located in the Northeastern part of India. The Tai Ahom people, as observed generally, have their severally subdivided groups namely; Shane state composed of Tai Khamti, Tai Phake, Tai Aiton, Tai Turung and Tai Khamyang. Their geographical evidences of the habitation, at the present time, can obviously be found in the administrative district of Dibrugarh and Sibsagar, state of Assam and beyond the administrative district of Lohit, state of Arunachal Pradesh