I met Tileshwar Mohan in January 2007; I had gone to visit the Tai Ahom village of Parijat, home to some of the leading Deodhai – traditional priests of the Tai Ahom community – in order to learn more about the Tai Ahom manuscripts.

Twenty years ago, in October 1996, I had visited Assam for the first time. I was interested in the Tai Ahom language, which had ceased to be spoken as a mother tongue, in the late 18th century, when the Tai Ahoms had adopted many of the customs of the Hindu Assamese, including their language. From what I had read, however, the language had survived in ritual and in large collections of manuscripts, and was undergoing some kind of revival. However, in the first few years of my time in Assam I concentrated on other Tai languages – Phake, Aiton, Khamyang – which were still spoken by small numbers of people.

Parijat village is in the plains of Assam, an area full of very rich paddy rice fields; in January these are dry; the nights are cold and the days short. With my wife, I had travelled to Parijat to meet one of the leading Deodhai, but he was absent; however our guide took us to meet Tileshwar Mohan, who generously brought out for us a most valuable manuscript, the Ming Mvng Lung Phai (the spirit of the country descends and moves).[ref]We use the symbol for a back unrounded vowel of unspecified height – [ɯ] or [ɤ][/ref]

He allowed me to photograph the manuscript, and then read it in the traditional Tai Ahom intonation. While this has never been investigated, this intonation seems to me to be much influenced by Indian styles, yet it is still somehow unique.