Ancestors’ worship: The Ahom style

via The Sentinel, 30 January 2021: A feature on the Tai-Ahom people of eastern India, who are a mix of indigenous people and Tai-speaking people who came into the region around the 12th century.

The Ahoms have the system of worship of their ancestors like other Tai people of the world. Even the Buddhist Tais pay oblations to their ancestors. The concept of the worship of the ancestors is very vibrant in the case of the Tai Ahoms. In fact, the ancestor-worship is the solid foundation of the traditional Tai Ahom religion.

The worship of the ancestors is called Me Dam Me Phi in Tai, ‘me’ meaning worship, ‘dam’ meaning the spirits of the dead in the family and ‘phi’ meaning god. Me Dam Me Phi (pronounced as ‘may daam may phi’) means that the spirits of the dead are worshipped as gods by their descendents.

According to the traditional Tai Ahom religion, the ancestors of the family protect the members of the family against all odds. There is no need for worshipping the gods and goddesses of the Heaven and the earth as dam phi, that is, spirits of the ancestors, when propitiated, protect the members of the family in all ways. So the sayings go;

Source: Ancestors’ worship: The Ahom style