Zayein people

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Zayein

A Zayein couple in one of their traditional dress
Total population
c. 15245 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
Myanmar
Languages
Lahta Language (Zayein)
Religion
Christianity (Baptists, Roman Catholic and Folk religion, Theravada Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Karenni people, Karen people, Pa'O people

The Zayein (Burma: ဇယိန်လူမျိုး) are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar (Burma). They are also called Lahta (Kayan Lahta) and Loilong Karen. The Zayein are native of Pinlaung and Pekon Townships, Southern Shan State, Myanmar.^[1] According to the list in 2013 there are 65 villages of the Zayein and total population of 15245 in Southern Shan State.

Speakers of Zayein refer it as simply Zayein or Ta-yun. The Zayein are divided into the Kwungsaung and the Pahlaing, who seem to speak radically various dialects. In fact the Zayein is a collective name for the talk the Zayein or Sawng-Tüng dialect and are really the same race, though they have distinctive dress and defining customs.^[2]

The Lamung speak the Sawng-tüng Language.

Lahta is spoken in between Moebye and Pekon towns, especially in the western Pekon Township.^[3] Lahta is the dialect of the Sawng-tüng Karen language.

Years ago, beyond the memory of man, a race of Karens, called the Sawng-tüng, or Lon-tüng, inhabited a tract of country called Lon-tüng, south-east of Thaton in the Amherst district of Burma. Either because the climate did not suit them, or more probably on account of the internal strife which followed the carrying off captive of the Taung-thu King by the King of Pagan, twenty households, numbering about one hundred persons, left Lon-tung and made their way north till they arrived at a spot south-west of where Ngwe-daung and Naungpale are now situated. There they halted, cut out a site, cleared the hills and built a village, which they called Lon-tung, or Sawng-tüng after their old home. Here they staye for ten years, when the soil was exhausted, and they migrated to Loi Ling Ela in the present State of Mong Pai. After a stay of 12 years the majority moved north-west and founded a village at Ham Bang (yellow earth) now known as Loi Long.A few families, however, remained at Loi-linh Ela and their descendants are still there. Loi Long is in the extreme south of the present Loi Long State (now Pinlaung Township), which then would appear to have been uninhabited. At any rate there was no trouble in settling, and the original twenty households had so increased that a swarm broke off and founded another village called Ban-sang on a site south of the present village of Pin-nga. Bang-sang village no longer exists, but the hill, which took its name from the village, records the settlement.

The next important move on the part of these Sawng-tungs took place, it is said, three hundred and sixty years after the founding of Bang-sang, when the village of Lom-swi was built. Fifteen years after this comes the first mention of a Chief. La-tang, the ruler of the Sawng-tung State, died and was succeeded by his brother La-ku. La-ku wished to wished to re-visit the house of his ancestors and abdicated in favour of his son La-kawng. One of La-kawng's first acts was to remove the village Lom-swi to Lom-kye, a very short distance south-east of Ban-sang and not far from the site of the old village known by the name. When La-kawng died his brother La-sa succeeded him and he proceeded to make out the limits of the Sawng-tung State. In oneportionof the State the boundary was fixed by a row ofthrees on which where a number of hornets' nests. Hornets are much esteemed when roasted as an article of food among the Sawng-tung. Shortly after the demarcation a child belonging to a race of which La-neing was chief, with headquarters at Ban-pa, went into the jungle to collect firewood and was stung to death by hornets from La-sa's boundary trees. When La-neing heard of this he had the trees with the hornets cut down and burnt. La-sa was very indignaut and prepared for war. He called out all the able-bodied Sawng-tung men, but found that he had not a strong enough force to attack Ban-pa, and therefore struck up an alliance with the Chief of Sawng-ke and cemented the treaty by marrying his son La-tein to the daughter of the Sawng-ke chieftain, on which occasion a great feast was given, mutual oaths of alliance taken, and many buffaloes, pigs, and fowls slaughtered, and kaung-ye (rice-beer) drunk. After this an attack was made on Ban-pa by the allies and the place was taken and all the inhabitants massacred. La-sa immediately settled there, for the position was very strong one, and Ban-pa has since remained the capital of the Sawng-tung race.

Shortly after this a man, La-pye, came up from Lon-tung, the original seat of the race, with some new immigrants, and La-sa thought the occasion a good one for extendinghis territory at the expense of the Shans of the Nawk Wo valley. The first expedition resulted in the overthrow of the Sawng-tung by the Shans under La-leing, La-mung, and Ariya. Another expedition was planned by La-sa and three columns marched down. The Shans defeated one, but were caught betweenthe other two and defeated, and La-pye and a few men from Ban-pa settled down in the new territory. The Kathe hill and the Loi-pyi country were also annexed and colonized by men from Ham-bang, and these were joined five years later by new colonists from Lon-tung. After this La-sa reighed for five years at peace and then died and was succeeded byhis son La-tein, who had up till then been living with his father-in-law at Sawng-ke.

He now moved to Ban-pa and after six years peaceable reign resolved to further extended the Sawng-tüng State. He attacked the Taung-thu (Pa-O) village of Pin-Mun, about twenty-nine mules north-east of Ban-pa, and drove them out, with their chief La-pring.

Having organized his State in this way, he resolved to increase his population by including Shan and Taungthus to settle in it. With this object he sent La-lui, an influential, to create a village at Pin-laung. In this La-lui was entirely successful and Pin-laung was founded in 1156 B.E. (1794).^[4]

• Zayein people