[1] In the pre-colonial era, the term 'sawbwa' was utilised by the Burmese monarchy in reference to the hereditary rulers of Shan-speaking polities called mong (Shan: မိူင်း, pronounced [mə́ŋ]), in the region.

The privileges and titles were so much a matter of royal ordinance that every one of a Sawbwa's symbols of power was laid down in a special book of dispensations granted by the higher court.

His regalia and clothes, the guilding and jewel decoration of betel boxes, spittoons, fly-whisks and such articles of use, the dress of ministers, the umbrellas, spears and horses in procession, the caparisoning of the royal elephant, the instruments for processional music, the gateways and the style of residence, all were rigidly prescribed to ensure that the dignity kept up accordance with the status of a royal chieftain, yet did not encroach on the special privileges reserved for the court of Ava itself.

The British, whose success in administration was largely bound up with observance, of precedence in a hierarchy, listed states also as Sawbaships, Myosaships and Ngwegunhmuships The term was also used for the rulers of some Tai polities in what is now China's Yunnan Province.

[2] In the Ming dynasty, Chinese Dai Tusi chief attached Pha (法) after the name, but they don't use the term when they contact with official.