Pa-O

  1. Home
  2. top of the aat hierarchies
  3. Styles and Periods Facet
  4. Styles and Periods (hierarchy name)
  5. [styles, periods, and cultures by region]
  6. Asian
  7. Southeast Asian
  8. Pa-O
Scope note
The Pa-O are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group numbering approximately 812,000-1.5 million people, primarily concentrated in Myanmar's Shan, Kayin, Kayah, Mon, and Bago regions, with refugee communities in northern Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province. Believed to have settled in the Thaton region around 1000-1700 B.C.E., the Pa-O were enslaved by King Anawratha's defeat of the Mon in 1057 C.E. and forced to wear indigo-dyed clothing as a mark of servitude, with many subsequently fleeing to the Salween River lowlands and adopting Shan cultural traditions including Theravada Buddhism. While most Pa-O are Theravada Buddhists with syncretic animist practices and a Christian minority, the group displays significant cultural variation between lowland populations (more assimilated to Bamar culture) and highland communities (retaining traditional practices), united collectively only in recent decades despite speaking related Karen languages of the Pho group.
Pa-O
Accepted term: 09-Mar-2026