History

History

History of Muay Thai

Thai boxing, or Muay Thai as the Thai people call it, is a traditional art of self defense of the Thais. It is different from international boxing in that in the Thai style of unarmed fighting, feet, elbows and knees are used as well as fists. Thus, it resembles more to a real free- for-all fight and is therefore considered superior to international boxing as an art of self defense. As it is more exacting, a Thai boxing match lasts only five rounds of three minutes each, with a two-minute rest between rounds.

Since ancient times the Thai rulers have attached great importance to the training of their soldiers and the ordinary people in the skills of hand-to-hand fighting, both with and without weapons. While the latter is known as muay, the former is called krabi-krabong, literally sword and baton, though the weapons used are not limited to these two. Very often, the rulers themselves were great fighters--strong, valiant and skilled in the art. That is one of the reasons why the Thais emerged a victor in their rivalry with other races and became dominant in this part of the world.

When the first Thai kingdom was set up in the late 13th century with Sukhothai as capital, a piece of ground in front of the palace was used by the king himself for practicing shadow boxing and also as a stadium where boxing contests were held to select good boxers as palace guards.

When the power of Sukhothai declined, another Thai kingdom rose in the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River in 1350 with Ayutthaya as capital. The Kingdom was ruled successively by 35 kings of five dynasties until 1767, when Ayutthaya was occupied by the Burmese invaders. During this long period of over four centuries, several outstanding Thai boxers were produced. The first was King Naresuan the Great (1590-1605).

When Naresuan was a boy of nine, he was taken to Burma as a hostage following the first fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese which resulted in the conqueror's installation of Naresuan's father, Maha Thammaraja, as the new king of Siam. Six years later, the Siamese prince was allowed to come back home, but only after he had won a boxing match with a well- known Burmese pugilist, which was a precondition set by the Burmese ruler for his release. Latter, Naresuan declared Siam's independence from Burma and, with his fighting skills, was able to repel another invasion from Burma and killed the crown prince of the enemy in the decisive battle

The Story of Nai Khanom Tom

At the time of the fall of the ancient Thai capital of Ayuthya in 1767, when the city was destablized and heading ofr destruction because it rulers were weak, the invading Burmese troops rounded up a group of Thai residents and took them as prisoners. Among them were a large number of Thai boxers, who were held by the Burmese potentate Suki Phra Nai Kong of Kai Pho Sam Ton at the city of Ungwa.

In 1774, in the Burmese city of Rangoon, the Lord Mangra, king of the Burmese, decided to organize a seven-day, seven-night celebration in honor of the pagoda where the Buddha's relics are preserved. He ordered a royal presentation of a Thai boxing match between Thai and Burmese fighters. For the celebration, he also arranged for several folk-type spectacles such as the costume plays called likay, comedies and farces, and sword-fighting matches. The boxing ring was set up in front of the throne.

During the first day of the celebration, a high-ranking Burmese nobleman led a Thai boxer to pay his respects to the Burmese king. Lord Mangra then agreed to allow a Burmese boxer to pit his strength against that of the Thai boxer. A referee led the Thai boxer into the ring and introduced his as Nai Khanom Tom, a famous fighter from Ayuthya, a viewers saw a robust, dogged dark-skinned captive. Among the group of Burmese spectators was a group of Thai captives who view [sic] with each other in cheering him.

As soon as he matched with a fighter, Nai Khanom Tom began dancing around his opponent, which amazed and perplexed the Burmese spectators. The referee then announced that the dance was a Thai tradition (wai khruu) through which the boxer paid his respects to his mentor.

Then the signal for the match was given, Nai Khanom Tom rushed forward, elbowing and pummeling his opponent in the chest until the latter collapsed. The referee, however, judged that the knockout was not to be considered a victory for th eThai boxer, since his Burmese opponent had been distracted by the wai khruu dance, so Nai Khanom Tom had to confront nine other Burmese boxers. This decision prompted the other Thai boxers to vounteer to fight together with Nai Khanom Tom to avenge him.

Nai Khanom Tom agreed to fight against the other Burmese boxers to uphold the reputation of Thai boxing. His last opponent was in fact a boxing teacher from Ya Kai City who was on a visit to enjoy the festivities. Thus, he volunteered to fight, but was soon so mangled by Nai Khanom Tom's kicks that no one dared to challenge him further.

However, Lord Mangra was so enthralled with Thai boxing that he summoned Nai Khanom Tom to reward him, asking which he would prefer, money or beauteous wives. Without hesitation, Nai Khanom Tom said he would take the wives, because money was easier to find. So Lord Mangra awarded him two Burmese girls from the Mon tribe. In time, Nai Khamon Tom took his lovely wives to Thailand, where he lived with them until the end of his life.

He is considered the first Thai boxer to have imprinted the art of Thai boxing with dignity, and who gave it such a reputation beyond Thailand's borders that the episode remains engraved in the history of Burma until this day.