The Turung people (also known as the Tai Turung, Assamese: টাই টুৰুং) are a numerically small Buddhist community in the
northeastern Indian state of
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
.
They originally migrated from Upper Burma and settled in Assam in the latter part of 18th century. During migration, they were captured and made slaves by the
Singpho people and hence have had a lot of Singpho influences on their culture, language, and lifestyle.
They presently reside in certain pockets in Upper Assam in the districts of
Golaghat
Golaghat ( ''Gʊlaɡʱat'' ) one of the largest subdivisions of the Indian state of Assam, later elevated to the position of a full–fledged district headquarter on 5 October 1987, is a city and a municipality and the seat of administrative ...
,
Jorhat
Jorhat ( ) is one of the important cities and a growing urban centre in the state of Assam in India.
Etymology
Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and "Sowkihat" which existed on the opposite ...
and
Karbi Anglong
Karbi may refer to:
Places
* Karbi, Armenia
* Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India
* Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India
Other uses
* Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-east ...
.
Although the origin of the word Turung is not known, many believe that it is derived from the name of a river in
Patkai
The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Kumon Taungdan'') are a series of mountains in the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. They ...
region named
Turungpani. Another school of thought is that the word Turung is derived from the word Tai Long meaning Great Tai since these people were of
Shan origin.
The present population of the community is unknown but is believed to be around 10,000.
Social groups of Assam
Tai peoples
Tribes of Assam