Lawa ( or ; ) are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

northern Thailand Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lanna, is a region of Thailand. It is geographically characterized by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys that cut through them. ...

. The Lawa language is related to the Blang and the

Wa language Wa (Va) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Wa people of Myanmar and China. There are three distinct varieties, sometimes considered separate languages; their names in ''Ethnologue'' are Parauk, the majority and standard form; Vo ( Zhen ...

found in China and Myanmar (Burma), and belongs to the

Palaungic languages The Palaungic or Palaung–Wa languages are a group of nearly 30 Austroasiatic languages, with scholars disagreeing on exactly which languages to include in the classification. They are spoken in scattered pockets across an inland region of South ...

, a branch of the

Austroasiatic languages The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...

. Their population is estimated to be some 17,000. The Western Lawa are found in the vicinity of Mae Sariang in the south of Mae Hong Son Province, the Eastern Lawa are centred on Bo Luang in

Chiang Mai Province Chiang Mai is the largest Provinces of Thailand, province (''changwat'') of Thailand by area. It lies in Northern Thailand#Regional classification of northern Thailand, upper northern Thailand and has a population of 1.78 million people. It ...

Overview

The Lawa are sometimes mistaken for being the same people as the Lua of northern

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and of Nan Province, Thailand, who are speakers of the more distantly related Khmuic languages. This problem is compounded by the Eastern Lawa of Chiang Mai Province preferring to be called Lua by outsiders, and by the Thai people generally referring to speakers of these different Palaungic languages as Lua. Today, those Lawa who have not been integrated in mainstream Thai society, still live a traditional way of life, often professing

animism Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in ...

. As with the other mountain ethnic groups of Thailand, they are known for extraordinary craft skills, especially for being ironsmiths.

History

In the 5th to 10th century the Lawa people lived in

Central Thailand Central Thailand (Central Plain) (historically also known as Siam or Dvaravati) is one of the regions of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from northeast Thailand (Isan) by the Phetchabun Mount ...

, and, together with the Mon, were the inhabitants of present-day Lopburi. The name "Lopburi" is said to have been derived from "Lawaburi", and the city formed the core of an early kingdom in what is now Thailand, the

Lavo Kingdom The Lavo Kingdom () was a political entity (Mandala (Southeast Asian political model), mandala) on the left bank of the Chao Phraya River in the Upper Chao Phraya valley from the end of Dvaravati civilization, in the 7th century, until 1388. The o ...

, which existed from the 7th century CE until it was incorporated into the

Ayutthaya Kingdom The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai people, Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (city), Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. Europe ...

in 1388 CE. Other sources place the Lawa as the original inhabitants of Northern Thailand, pre-dating the Tai migration into these lands. There is evidence that the Lawa inhabited cities before the arrival of the

Tai peoples Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai people, Dai, Thai people, Thai, Isan people, Isan, ...

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

, Thailand, was founded on the location of a 5th-century CE Lawa walled city, and legends state that Kengtung in Myanmar was taken from the Lawa in the 13th century CE through cunning and deceit by King

Mangrai Mangrai (; ; c. 1238–1311) was the 25th king of Ngoenyang (r. 1261–1292) and the first king of Lanna (r. 1292–1311). He established a new city, Chiang Mai, as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom (1296–1558).Wyatt, D. K. Thailand, A Short Hi ...

, the founder of the northern Thai Lanna Kingdom.

The Lawa in northern Thai legends

The Lawa people are mentioned in northern Thai legends, mainly in connection with the founding of its cities. The 15th century CE book ''

Cāmadevivaṃsa The Camadevivamsa (, , literally, "Chronicle of the Lineage of Cāmadevi") is a Pali chronicle composed in the early 15th century by the Lanna Buddhist monk Mahathera Bodhiramsi (). The chronicle, dated to c. 1410, is a semi-historical recounting o ...

'' by the Chiang Mai monk Bodhiramsi, relates how the Mon Queen

Camadevi Camadevi (also spelled Jamadevi; IPA: ʃaːmaˈdeːʋiː Pali: Cāmadevī; , , Mon: စာမ္မာဒေဝဳ, ; 7th-century – 8th-century) was the first monarch and Queen of Haripuñjaya, Hariphunchai (Pali: Haribhuñjaya), which was an ...

, a princess of the

, established the city of Haripunchai (present-day

Lamphun Lamphun (; , ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in northern Thailand, capital of Lamphun Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Lamphun district. As of 2006 it has a population of 14,030. Lamphun lies north of Bangkok and ...

) in the 7th century CE and is attacked by Vilanga, king of the Lawa, with 80,000 soldiers. After his defeat, she marries her two sons to the two daughters of the Lawa king, after which the two kingdoms become allies. The founding of the city state of

Ngoenyang Hiran Nakhon Ngoenyang (; ), also known as Chayaworanakhon Chiang Lao, Hiranyanakhon Ngoenyang Chiang Saen, Nakhon Yangkapura, or Thasai Ngoenyang was an early mueang or kingdom of the Northern Thai people from the 7th through 13th centuries A ...

in the 8th century CE, of which

was a prince before establishing the Lanna Kingdom in the 13th century, is also attributed to the Lawa in the Doi Tung story.Chris Baker: ''From Yue to Tai'', Journal of the Siam society 90.1 & 2, 2002, page 12

References

{{Authority control Ethnic groups in Thailand Wa people

Overview

History

The Lawa in northern Thai legends

See also

Further reading

References