History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c14.3.1

v1.c14.3.1

Further records of the colonisation of Further India and the Indian Archipelago by the people of Kalinga is to be found in the History of Burma and Siam. It is now acknowledged universally that the Talaing people of Burma, though of Mon origin, obtained their name from Tri-Kalinga. G. E. Harvey says, "Indeed the name 'Talaing' is probably derived from Telingana, a region on the Madras coast, whence so many of them came." It is further elucidated in a note, "the derivation of Phayre's is still the best. See Halliday, Hobson-Jobson s. v. 'Talaing', J. B. R. S. 1914 Blagden 'Talaing.' The aetiological tale that Alaungpaya christened the people Talaing meaning 'downtrodden' is disproved by the occurrence of the name Talaing in Burmese inscription as early as 1107 (Inscriptions 1913-18)."¹ The term Talaing is phonetically connected with Tri-Kalinga though that form cannot yet be proved to have existed in India in the first century B. C. or A. D. The undoubted origin of the name Talaing from Tri-Kalinga finds a curious corroboration in the fact that the Talaing land itself was divided into the three countries : Pegu, Myaingmya and Bassein. The king Razadarit (1385-1423) divided them into 32 village circles.² The Talaings of Burma were formed by an admixture of the original Indonesian or Negrito population with the Mons, with a small dose of Dravidian-Kalingan blood.