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Sir, The origin of the word "Talaing" is not Burmese.It is derived from the word 'Talinga" or "Talingana" coming from "Kalinga". the present Orissa region of India because most Mon people came from that region. Lower Burma then was called Ramanna or Ramannya Desa meaning the Land of Rama or Raman. The first town of these people was called Utta or Uttha derived from Orissa of India. Hence these people have Indian connections in religion (Buddhism or Hinduism), language (Southern Indian Tamil or Telagu) and culture (Southern India). The word Talaing is inscribed in the Bagan (Pagan) epigraphs since the middle of the 11th Century. There are names with Talain in Burma (Myanmar) like Talaing Ywama (Main Talaing village), Talaing Ein( Talaing House), Talaing Sanbin) (Talaing Styled Haircut). Yours sincerely, Dr Maung Maung Nyo -1.05.2009

Talaing: is morally, physically assaulted Mon people by Burmese king U Aungzeya ( Alaung paya) in 1757 when he invaded Hongsawatoi, Mon Kingdom (now lower Burma). Burmese military killed thousands of thousands of Mon people included pregnant women, children, students and monks. In Mon language "Ta" means father, "Laing" mean to be perished. On May 8, 1757, when Burmese King U Aungzeya completely conquered Hongsawatoi (Mon kingdom), he gathered all the Mon people from the cities and villages and sorted them in the stockades as school children, pregnant women and monks to be kill and burn. When they (U Aungzeya) heard Mon people cried " oh ta Laing ra " (oh father we will be perished), he laughed to his soldiers with evil action and started calling Mon people as "Talaing" since then.

Dr. Maung Maung Nyo is absolutely wrong when he says Talaing was derived from Talingana/Telingana and above all he can not prove it right yet up to now. Even though they got Culture, Literature and Religion etc from India, Mon people did not migrated from South of India as he said. Mon’s original place was South of China. I have no intention to go on this subject in details yet at the moment. His saying, “The word Talaing is inscribed in the Bagan (Pagan) epigraphs since the middle of the 11th Century” just misleads the readers. Talaing which was found in Sawlu Min’s incription, was spelled as Tan Laing, not Talaing as he mentioned. Without enough researches he took it for granted as a word truly referred to Mon. According to my research Tan Laing in the inscription was solely referred to Tai Long Shan. As we all know that Mon People were one of the oldest inhabitants who had been settled in Burma since time immemorial. They had never been recorded as Talaing. There are no record or account which could suggest that Mon had been called as Talaing. Mon People had been known to Europeans as Mon or Peguans or Peguers. Only when they came to Burma during the 18th century Europeans came across this word for the very first time that made them so surprised. As we all know that Alongbaya used Talaing word to attack his enemy Mon of Hongsawati during the war which was took place in 1752-57. One thing we can say for sure is that all the words, used during the wars, could be described as a word to humiliate the enemy. In most cases such kind of words were intentionally invented. Concerning Talaing word, Dr.Forchhammer, a well-known archaeologist, said that Talaing was invented by Alongbaya. Dr. Forchhammer make his contention clearly as he did not see any evidence, after conducted so many researches, which could suggest him to believe that Mon had been recorded in history as Talaing. (Nai Pe Thein Zar-24/10/09)

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