Buddhism in the Life and Living of the Tai Phakes of Assam, India
ISBN 978-85-88783-11-9
Authors
1das, M.; 2Buragohain, K.
1GAUHATI UNIVERSITY Email: madhushreedas@yahoo.com
2GAUHATI UNIVERSITY
Abstract
Every religion in the face of the earth has its influence upon their respective adherents. Pages of world history are evident of how religion has inked in dark hues at different points of time. Many wars have been fought because of religious differences and many countries have been created on its basis. At present, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism has majority followers. Each of them has huge impact upon their respective fractions. Buddhism emerged in India and is today well spread in majority of the South-East Asian countries. In this region there are various ethnic communities with different language, customs and traditions and among them the Tai Communities have played a crucial role in promoting the rich ethnic cultural diversity. Majority of the Tai Communities are followers of Buddhism of Hinayana sect. These Tai Communities are well spread in India, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Laos and Vietnam. In India’s North-East especially Arunachal Pradesh and Assam there are six Tai communities viz, Ahom, Khamti, Khamyang, Phake, Aiton and Turung. Except Ahom all the other five are strict followers of Buddhism. Buddhism has always played an important role in their day to day life. Infact, it has acted as a protecting shield to their age old cultural practices. Most of their traditional and cultural practices are related to Buddhism in some way or the other. Thus, many similarities can be observed between these five communities in the aspect of culture. Right from early morning wake up till they go to bed, the impact of religion is strongly felt in the activities of these people. Even their mindset has been shaped by the principles of Buddhism. With this background, an attempt has been made in this paper to understand how Buddhism has cast its spell upon the life and living of the Phakes of Assam. The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data has been collected from three Phake villages namely Namphake of Dibrugarh district and Borfakial and Ningam of Tinsukia district by actively participating in the daily life of the Phake People.
Keywords
Religion; Buddhism; Communities