在雲南中南部哀牢山腹地及瀾滄江兩岸，自清代中前期以來，隨著內地漢人移民的增加和清政府藉「改土歸流」對鹽、茶、礦等地方資源實施控制，由此引發了頻繁的族群衝突，地方政治經濟關係面臨著急遽的變化。雍正初年，清政府設立普洱府，並在鎮沅府、威遠州實行「改土歸流」，將這一化外領域納入國家的行政體系之中。在「改土歸流」初期，政治上遭受打擊的擺夷（傣）土司聯合山區的倮黑等群體來共同抵抗國家的滲透遭到鎮壓；經過一段時期的政治經濟整合，地方上的族群關係逐漸發生了改變。政府利用這一形勢，將再次反抗政府的經濟剝奪的山區倮黑等群體鎮壓下去，並將他們驅趕到瀾滄江西岸山區。從雍正到嘉慶時期，由王朝中央推動的地方政治的變化，一方面完成了哀牢山腹地鎮沅府、普洱府地區從「邊疆」納入「內地」的改流過程；另一方面，倮黑等土著群體在遭受移民的擠壓和與官府的衝突的社會危機中，一些移民或邊緣精英成為宗教運動的領袖，他們自稱「佛祖」，在倮黑／拉祜等山區土著中發起社會動員，將山區族群組織起來與清政府或傣族土司對抗，同時其社會內部的組織機制和意義體系也得到重新整理，社會秩序在應對外來威脅的危機之時通過宗教動員得以重新建構。在這一過程中，文獻中的倮黑從眾多山區土著群體中脫穎而出，成為在衝突中動員、冒升出來的群體，納入國家的視野，成為隨後不斷與清朝政府抗爭的「拉祜人」；在拉祜的神話和儀式中，不斷重生的「厄沙佛祖」成為號召拉祜的救世主，被驅趕而失落故土的歷史也被整理到神話中，成為「找回失去的世界」的儀式祈願。

In the early to mid Qing Dynasty, as increasing numbers of Han Chinese moved away from the inner provinces and migrated to middle and southern Yunnan, the Qing government began to carry out reforms of the native chieftain system (Gaitu Guiliu, 改土歸流) in the Ailao Mountains (哀牢山), in order to control local resources such as silver mines, salt wells, and tea plantations. The reforms of the native chieftain system and the accompanying redistribution of natural resources in ways beneficial to the Qing Dynasty created many ethnic conflicts in the region, and dramatically changed the region’s local political economy. In the early years of the Yong Zheng reign, the Qing government established the Pu Er (普洱) Prefecture. The native chieftain system was transformed by establishing administrative offices in the Zheng Yuan (鎮沅) and Wei Yuan (威遠) prefectures which incorporated these previously remote regions into the state’s administrative system. In reaction to these developments, the local Dai chiefs built alliances with the Luo Hei (倮黑) ethnic group in the mountainous areas to resist the extension of Qing Dynasty power into these regions in the 1720s. However, the local Dai chiefs and the Luo Hei were suppressed. After the suppression of these local ethnic groups, the Qing Dynasty transformed the local economy and politics which changed the interaction between various ethnic groups in fundamental ways. In the 1790s, under the Jia Qing reign, the Luo Hei rose again in rebellion against the Qing Dynasty’s exploitative salt policy, and were again suppressed and then driven away to the western part of the Lancang River (the Mekong). From the reign of Yong Zheng to the reign of Jia Qing, the Zheng Yuan and Pu Er Prefectures were incorporated into the Qing Dynasty administrative power and were thus no longer remote border regions but regions under Qing administrative control. However, the incorporation of these outlying areas into regions under Qing state control created social crisis within these ethnic groups since the Luo Hei and other ethnic groups were repressed by local authorities and were often discriminated against by newly arrived Han immigrants. This social crisis spurred religious movements when some immigrants or marginal elites who called themselves Buddha became leaders of religious movements. They mobilized the Luo Hei (Lahu, 拉祜), and other ethnic groups in the mountainous regions to resist the Qing state, the Dai chiefs, and the Han migrants. The religious movement spurred social restructuring, and the Luo Hei came to the fore as the indigenous tribe which resisted the intrusion of Qing state power most fiercely. Throughout this process of mobilization and resistance, the Luo Hei became known as the Lahu. Among the Lahu, the continually reborn E Sha (厄沙) Buddha was seen as the savior and the master of the Lahu people who would return time and again throughout history to save the Lahu people. The history of resistance, banishment, and upsurge in religious fervor was incorporated into the Lahu religious rites and mythology, as shown in the ceremonial prayer which prays for the “return of the lost world” to the Lahu people.