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The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 Volker Grabowsky 101 Mueang Luai › bestowed only the title of chao fa upon their ruler. The chao fa of the three other polities held the additional and more prestigious title of chao haw kham . They were the rulers of Chiang Rung, Mueang Laem, and Chiang Tung. Sharing similar social structures and political cultures, the three polities were closely knit together by marriage ties among their ruling houses. 5 2. Economic and trade relations . The Tai of the DSCD lived close to each other. Although they all grew glutinous rice as their staple crop, they had different resources and skills of production. Therefore, they relied on inter- regional trading to obtain the goods they could not produce in their own locality. We may take the trade of Sipsong Panna in the far north of the DSCD as a case in point. Even more important than the long-distance trade of Sipsong Panna with China and Burma, was the impact of the local trade on the regional economy. There was not only trade among various panna and mueang of Sipsong Panna but also between them and neighbouring Tai polities such as Mueang Laem, Nan, and Luang Prabang. The local trade was carried out mainly by Tai merchants on pack oxen, and pack horses or mules. Farmers in many parts of Sipsong Panna were suffering from chronic shortages of rice. Thus they were forced to buy supplementary rice from surplus areas in exchange for a wide variety of local products, including tea, camphor, opium, seal wax, and salt 6 . Opium from I-pang was exchanged of cotton from Luang Prabang and Nan. Tai-Kha relationship To present the DSCD as a coherent region much emphasis was put on Tai ethnic groups. However, the polities dominated by these groups comprised a poly-ethnic population of different cultural and ethno-linguistic background. Historically the relationship between the Tai and the autochthonous mostly Austro-Asiatic groups, was of great importance as scholars like Condominas have shown. This relationship is particularly reflected in the Lao myth of origin where 5 These ties are reflected in the legend of Chao Saeng To, one of the mythical pre-Chueang rulers of Moeng Lue not mentioned in the Tamnan lue sipsong pang . Chao Saeng To, like Chao Fa Dek Noi endowed with a magical jewel found in a hornetûs nest, married a Chinese princess. He had three sons, the eldest of which became his fatherûs successor. The second son was sent to rule Mueang Laem, while the youngest son became ruler of Chiang Tung. See Lamun 2007: 30›31. 6 As for details on trade and commerce in Sipsong Panna, see Liew-Herres/Grabowsky/Renoo 2012: 33›35. 98-112_mac9 4/26/12, 9:10 PM 101