Muay Thai, An ancient Martial Art style
- A popular combat sport -
- Part 1 -

Dr. Hanjabam Barun Sharma *

Muay thai (Muay - boxing, thai- thai people; meaning: Thai boxing), also called Pahuyuth , is a form of intermediate & close range hard Martial art, & the national sport of Thailand. It is one of the most popular martial art style in the world. To an ordinary eye, it is somewhat like 'concentrated' kickboxing, 'concentrated' in the sense that elbow, knee strike & below waist kicks along with clinch are allowed here.

Muay thai, although a Thai martial art, is similar or often identical to many other art forms practiced in several south-east Asian countries : Burmese bare knuckle boxing/ Lethwei in Myanmar; Pradal Serey in Combodia; Lao boxing in Laos & Tomoi in Malaysia. This may be partly explained by the below historical event.

At around, 200 B.C., Han Dynasty of China invaded and seized the kingdoms of Ai-lao (the name given by Chinese to them). This led to gradual migration of many Ai-lao from west-central Asia to south-east Asia, dividing into three branches in the process: the Shans settled in Burma, the Ahom went east into Vietnam, the Loa-Tai in the present day Laos.

At the end of 19th century, the first Thai states were forming into Laos & Siam, & with the capturing of two of Khmers cities (Khmers, the strongest & richest empire in Asia at around 6th century, originally from India.) in 1238, Muang thai - land of the free, an embryo nation, was created which ultimately becomes Thailand.

From its very birth, it was at constant threat, & at warfare against the Burmese to the west, & the Khmers to the south-east. To deal with it, during the period of Prince Uthong of Ayudhhya (aprox.1350-1750, considered Golden Age of Thailand), a training manual called 'the Chupasart' was prepared by distilling the vast combat knowledge of the great warriors of the nation, giving rise to a combat battle field art.

Around 1854, called the Ayuddhaya period, under the King Naresuan (also called as the Black Prince), the 1st great upsurge interest in Muay thai occurred. He modified Siamese boxing to supplement & conform to weapon use. He created duets fighting drills, organized boxing competitions & large scale combat exercises, while teaching the war science to his people.

One of the duets was for Krabi (the sabre, a long sword with curved tip & oversized hilt made up of teakwood/water buffalo horn) & Krabong (the spear/staff), almost similar to Manipuri Thang-Ta, from which, the name Krabi-Krabong came for the mother art.

Because too many soldiers were either injured grievously or killed while training & fighting with weapons, an unarmed art (Muay Boran/Muay Chao Chur), almost equally effective, was created. As it was to be used in battle fields, where there were always multiple attackers, originally they did little use of grappling or submission holds, but instead focused more on crushing kicks, punches or bone shattering elbows & knees, aiming to take down opponents with just one or two shots/blows.

Soon it became the national passion around 17th Century under the King Pra Chao Sua/the Tiger King. He loved the art so much that he often wandered Siam in disguise, fought in village contests, challenging all the comers & remaining undefeated for 7 years. Many of his personal fighting techniques became the basis of modern Muay thai.

Another famous Muay Boran warrior was a commoner named Nai Khanom Tom.



In 1767, he along with some 29,000 Thais were rounded up by the invading Burmese & took to Ungwa, Burma. After remaining imprison for 7 years (some sources say 1 year), he was selected to represent Thais prisoners of war in a boxing contest as a part of a grand festival organized by the Burmese King Mangra, at a Buddhist temple in Rangoon, where a holy relic of Buddha was enshrined.

He did Wai Kru to respect the King & the Burmese people, & incredibly defeated 10 Burmese Lethwei champions in succession without any rest. The King was so impressed that he granted him & his fellow Thai prisoners freedom along with two beautiful Burmese wives.

Even today, his feat is celebrated as 'National Muay thai Day' on March 17 every year, where young Thai boxers perform Wai khru ram muay & Wai khru prajam pee.



After the Burmese aggressors were expelled out in late 1767, the series of kings of the free Thailand spared no effort in promoting the art. The Thai boxing became the favorite sport & past time of the people, the army, & the Kings.

Around 1920s, during the reign of the King Rama the 7 , the name 'Muay Thai' was given to this popular sport, referring the older form of the style as Muay Boran.

To be continued....

---

* Dr. Hanjabam Barun Sharma is a regular contributor to e-pao.net .
He is at Martial Art & Combat Sports Club (MACC), Raipur (C.G.) also Secretary, Raipur Taekwondo Vikash Samiti, Raipur(C.G.).
The writer can be contacted at wang_fei03(at)rediffmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on November 25, 2008.

---