The Lawa speak a Palaungic language and were in this country before either the Mon or the Tai.
They hold the hills west of the Ping plain, from the Doi Suthep foothills to Doi Inthanon, Bo Luang and Mae Chaem, and the Mae Sariang and Mae La Noi valleys on the Salween side. Customs and assemblies: each village governs itself; the Lawa are known as ironworkers and live by hill rice and spirit cults. The campaign board says they bring lac, wax, honey and forest drugs down to the valley markets and hold the tracks toward the Salween.
The chronicles cast them as enemies of Haripunjaya's founding queen; that is legend.
Who holds it
- Title
- Village chiefs and spirit-priests of the Lawa
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- See the Lawa chiefs record.
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
none; the Lawa pay nobody regularly
What it holds
- The hill ranges of the Ping and Salween divide
- The tracks west to the Salween
- Iron, lac, wax and honey for the valley markets
How it was acquired
Native to the hills.
Allies and rivals
Trade with the Mon towns of the Ping; raids on their edge; the Karen to the south-west.
How things stand that morning
Self-governing villages in touch with Lamphun and paying it no regular tribute.
Wealth
Hill rice, iron, lac, wax, honey.
Military
Village fighters; no numbers.
Threats
- Valley rulers pressing up the tracks (all later)
Where the sources disagree
- Board (lawa-uplands): "likely" Haripunjaya. The Lawa pay nobody regularly; drawn as a people, not as a Haripunjaya holding.
Evidence: Linguistic and ethnographic knowledge and late chronicles; no inscription of 1200 names a Lawa chief.
On the map: Two blocks of hill country standing for scattered villages.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, Lawa people
- Wikipedia, Camadevi (legend of the Lavo queen; Baker and Pasuk on the archaeology)
- Wikipedia, Haripunjaya (Mon inscriptions of 1213, 1218 and 1219; chronicle king list and its caveats)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.