Massage and herbal healing are probably as old as mankind.
After the hunters returned to their cave with sore limbs, their companions presumably tried to rub away the stiffness. In the meantime, while searching the forest, they found wild plants, and after experimenting, discovered that some had remarkable medicinal properties. Over time, this knowledge was refined and passed on orally, first from generation to generation. Later, a parchment text, samutkhoi, was created. When trade and relations began to develop between villages, city-states, and finally kingdoms, this knowledge was shared and adopted. [Source: Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government Public Relations Department].
According to legend, the origins of Thai medicine can be traced to the historical figure Sivago Komarpai (name may vary, this is just one example), who served as physician to the monks (a community of monks and nuns) of the Buddha. Despite his minor position as one of the Buddha's scriptures, Sivago has approached god-like status in Thai religion. He is revered throughout the country as the Father Physician, and his statue appears beside the Buddha. At the entrance to the royal palace is a statue of the divine doctor overlooking the area.
The Ramkhamhaeng stone inscription is the earliest evidence of ethnic Thai healing, for it describes the Royal Botanical Gardens. But even before that, during the Khmer Empire that ruled the northeast, it is recorded that King Jayavarman VII ordered the establishment of 102 alokayasara (natural breathing), or traditional healing hospitals.
Much later, in the 16th century, when King Narai ruled Siam from the seat of Ayutthaya power, he opened both a hospital and a pharmacy. After the fall of the Ayutthaya dynasty and the founding of Bangkok, King Rama III began to promote the healing of the people and established a school at Wat Pho. However, interest waned as the government and people turned their attention and trust to Western medicine.
When Burmese enemies sacked Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Siam, in 1767, they also destroyed most medicine records. A few years later, when King Rama I became King of Siam, he moved the seat of government to Bangkok and began a cultural renaissance aimed at restoring the kingdom's old glory. He and his descendants ordered the collection and preservation of the arts and sciences, the renovation of temples, and the construction of schools. All surviving medical knowledge was devoted to writing. In the process, it was codified and organized into a system closely following Indian Ayurveda.
During the reign of King Rama VII, in 1929, the two medical approaches were separated. This was very detrimental to Thai indigenous medicine. Only when the World Health Organization began to promote the preservation of ethnic heritage in 1927 did the Ministry of Health turn its attention to the revival of indigenous healing, which was increasingly supported by the country's economic and social development programs. This led to the establishment of the Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Thai Medicine and other related organizations and institutions.
In 1938 a project was initiated in the northern province of Chiang Mai to cultivate the herb cinchona (bark) to produce quinine (a natural anti-malarial drug/the structure of its components would lead to the development of artificial anti-malarial drugs) anti-malarial drugs, but this was not economically viable.
Due to World War II and the lack of sufficient quantities of medicines, the government again turned its attention to herbal remedies. They worked with German experts to establish an experimental medicinal garden in the eastern province of Chanthaburi. A short time later, doctors prepared a report in English and Thai listing some 400 indigenous plants, their characteristics, and medicinal properties.
After the World Health Organization began promoting the country's traditional heritage in 1977, the Thai government added ethnomedicine to its five-year national economic and social development plan. The Foundation for the Promotion of Traditional Thai Medicine was established, and over the years the interest in and importance of herbal medicine has grown.
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