Müang

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Müang (or Mueang , French Muang ; Thai เมือง , Laotian ເມືອງ , pronunciation [ mɯaŋ ], or Shan Mong ) were the quasi-independent principalities or city-states of the Tai peoples in present-day Thailand , Laos , the Shan state of Burma , parts of the southern China's Yunnan Province and the extreme northwest of Vietnam . The smaller Müang often had to pay tribute to the more powerful neighboring Müang, who in turn paid tribute to the king ( mandala system ). Some of the great Müang were also called “ Kingdom ” and at times gained a certain independence.

In Lan Na the Müang were also more or less independent areas. They were further divided into cities ( Wiang ) and the surrounding villages ( Ban ).

Through the Thesaphiban reform under King Rama V (Chulalongkorn), the city-states in Siam were replaced by the present-day Thai provinces ( Changwat ) at the end of the 19th century and placed under direct control by the central government.

Further meaning

The term Müang has a central and varied meaning in the Tai languages. Traditionally, it essentially has the following meanings:

  • a community of several villages ( บ้าน , ban , literally "house / houses" or "home")
  • a political-social unit, early form of a smaller state, a tribal principality , which was ruled by a lord ( chao เจ้า - [ t͡ɕâo ]) and consists of a city in the center and the surrounding villages. The term müang fai ( เหมืองฝาย , “irrigation ditch”, literally “ditch weir”) is related etymologically . In the societies of the Tai peoples that focused on irrigated rice field cultivation, a muang was a community whose economic life was based on a common irrigation system. Müang was both the name for the city in the center and for the community it ruled as a whole. Such a Müang was less spatially and geographically delimited than rather defined by social and personal interrelationships and dependencies. So colonists who moved out to settle outside their original Müang were still counted among their ancestral community as long as they had closer ties to it.
  • civilized area (from the point of view of the Tai): cultivated land inhabited by Tai (in plains, valleys or high plateaus), in contrast to "wilderness" ( ป่า , pa , literally "forest"), the wooded high areas that are not at all or by indigenous ( va Austroasiatic ) groups were populated, the slash and burn operated -Feldbau, hunted and gathered and from the Tai kha ( ข้า were called "slaves").
  • in the mandala system a larger unit of several Müang, among which a central, more powerful Müang was superior to the others who were obliged to pay tribute and / or loyalty to it. Again, Müang was both the name of the “capital” and the entire “empire”. (In old chronicles and treaties between the Kingdom of Ayutthaya and western states, for example, the foreign-language version referred to the country “Siam”, whereas the Thai version referred to Müang Ayutthaya .)
  • In the Tai's traditional conception of the universe, a Müang was one of three "worlds", namely the sensually perceptible, the supernatural / metaphysical and the heavenly. In this meaning, Müang was used synonymously with the Pali word loka ( โลก , Thai pronunciation [ lôːk ]).

Important people and institutions in a Müang had names that literally corresponded to body, house or plant parts of the Müang . For example, huu müang ("ear of Müang") describes a diplomat, taa müang ("eye of Müang") a wise scholar or adviser, kään müang ("seed of Müang") the religious and cultural head, p (r) atuu müang ("Door of the Müang") the border guard unit, raak / haak müang ("Root of the Müang") an astrologer, nguang müang ("trunk of the Müang") an adviser or member of the council of elders, khüü müang ("roof beam of the Müang") officials who administered a subunit of the Müang, faa müang ("wall of the Müang") the military chief, pää müang ("roof purlin of the Müang") the ruling nobility and so on.

present

The word Müang is still used in many ways, both in official and informal contexts:

  • Colloquially, Thailand is still called Müang Thai ( เมือง ไทย - [ mɯaŋ tʰaj ], "Thai community"), instead of officially Prathet Thai ("Land of Thai") or Ratcha-anachak Thai ("Kingdom of Thailand").
  • The same applies to Laos, which is colloquially known as Müang Lao ( ເມືອງ ລາວ ) instead of Pathet Lao ( ປະ ເທດ ລາວ ) or Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao ( ສາ ທາ ລະ ນະ ລັດ ປະ ຊາ ທິ ປະ ໄຕ ປະ ຊາ ຊົນ ລາວ , People's Democratic Republic of Laos).
  • The Thai amphoe (counties or districts) in which the provincial capital is located are called Amphoe Mueang ( อำเภอ เมือง ).
  • Thesaban Mueang (เทศบาล เมือง ) is an administrative status for medium-sized cities with limited local self-government.
  • In Laos, the Muang ( ເມືອງ ) are the second highest administrative unit after the provinces ( Khoueng ).

literature

  • Volker Grabowsky : Population and State in Lan Na. A contribution to the population history of Southeast Asia. Harrassowitz-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004. In particular section “Müang and maṇḍala”, pp. 4–15.
  • Volker Grabowsky: Small history of Thailand. CH Beck, Munich 2010. In particular, section “The traditional community of the Tai: ban – müang”, pp. 23–32.
  • Jana Raendchen: The Socio-political and Administrative Organization of Müang in the Light of Lao Historical Manuscripts. (PDF; 114 kB) In: The literary heritage of Laos. Preservation, dissemination, and research perspectives. 2005, Paper No. 31, pp. 401-420.
  • Andrew Turton (Ed.): Civility and Savagery. Social Identity in Tai States. Curzon Press, Richmond Surrey 2000.
  • Thongchai Winichakul: Siam Mapped - A History of the Geo-body of a Nation . University of Hawaii Press 1994. (Reprint: Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 1998, ISBN 974-7100-56-8 )
  • David K. Wyatt: Thailand A Short History . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 1984, ISBN 974-7047-44-6 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ prathet is a loan word from Pali padesa or Sanskrit pradeśa , cf. Hindi pradeś / pradesh , as it occurs in the names of several Indian states.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raendchen: The Socio-political and administrative organization of Müang. 2005, p. 416.
  2. ^ Grabowsky: Population and State in Lan Na. 2004, pp. 4-9.
  3. ^ Ronald D. Renard: The Differential Integration of Hill People into the Thai State. In: Civility and Savagery. 2000, p. 66.
  4. ^ Andrew Turton: Introduction. In: Civility and Savagery. 2000, p. 11.
  5. ↑ Cholthira Satyawadhna: A Comparative Study of Structure and Contradiction in the Austro-Asiatic System of the Thai-Yunnan Periphery. In: Ethnic Groups Across National Boundaries in Mainland Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1990, pp. 74 ff.
  6. ↑ Raendchen: The Socio-political and administrative organization of Müang. 2005, pp. 409-410.