The technique of traditional Thai curative massage

is practiced by only a very few skilled experts today,

mainly isolated elderly women and probably even fewer

men. But its origins are very ancient; it is believed to have

come from India where it was practiced even before the

lifetime of the Lord Buddha, two and a half millennia

ago.

The Buddha's personal medical advisor is said to

have been named Chiwakka Komarapak. He kept the

tradition alive and handed it down for posterity. He is

still revered as the father of traditional Thai medicine

and massage.

Down the centuries the knowledge was passed on

and kept alive by devoted individual teachers. It was

brought to Thailand by the first Buddhist monks, by

Brahmins and merchants. Once in Thailand, the know-

ledge spread, and the ancient massage techniques slowly

gained a reputation for being able to cure or alleviate

various troubles such as epileptic fits, fevers, the early

stages of paralysis, dumbness and speech defects, as well

as more common ailments like backache, headache,

stomachache, nervous tension and so on. And it is a fact

that a skilled masseur can tone up one's whole body and

make one feel much fitter.

The popularity of traditional massage in Thailand

ened off. King Rama III, afraid it would disappear com-

pletely, ordered all the available knowledge to be in-

scribed on stone slabs which were set up in the com-

pound of Wat Po, the Reclining Buddha Temple. These

stone inscriptions can still be seen there today; they show

diagrams of the human body with certain key points

marked. It is the skilled and controlled application of

pressure by the masseur's hands at these crucial points of

the body that stimulates the patient's blood circulation

and so effects cures.

A later Chakri king, Rama VI (King Vajiravudh)

revived interest in these old techniques when it again

showed signs of flagging in the first quarter of this cen-

tury. As a result, two associations for traditional medi-

cine and massage were established. But once again, it

shows signs of dying out today.

About twelve years ago a radio program was

arranged in an attempt to renew interest in these skills.

As a result, at least one Thai masseur who heard the pro-

gramme is now practicing the ancient massage technique

ably and well. Not only is he earning a reasonable living

by practicing full-time; he is also bringing relief to many

people suffering from various sicknesses, tensions and

pains. His story is probably typical of the lifestyle of Thai-

land's few remaining traditional masseurs.

It's a fairly common custom, especially in upcountry

Thailand, for an elderly person to have a young child

walk to and fro on his or her prostrate back, while at the

same time pinching and squeezing that person's arms

and legs. Many rural Thai children have probably given

this rather crude and elementary massage treatment to

an uncle or aunt at some time or other, and when this

particular man listened to that radio programme, it

brought back memories of his childhood when he used

to tread on his uncle every now and again.

He set about learning the proper techniques from an

'adwem' or teacher, and he has been in regular practice

day, Saturdays and Sundays included, he gives treat-

ment in his own home in Bangkok, as well as making

house calls at patients' homes. Quite a number of teen-

agers come to him for treatment — mainly for headaches,

stomach troubles and similar complaints. Most of them

are schoolchildren who at some time in the past had had

a fall, and didn't feel the resultant pain until three or even

five years later.

tension, so busy that they've forgotten how to relax.

People in this age group also suffer pain from calcium

deposits affecting the nerves in the back of the neck,

while others, mainly women, are troubled by water

behind the knee. Skilled massage can relieve all these

people's pain. 

Before giving each session of treatment in his home,

the masseur lights joss-sticks which he offers with lotus

blooms to the memory of "Por Pu' ("Father") Komarapak,

kneeling and placing the palms of his hands in front of

his face in a 'wai' of homage to the tiny altar halfway up

the wall of his treatment-room. Then follows two hours,

maybe more, of steady pressing, pushing, kneading and

twisting of the patient's limbs this way and that. Every

movement the masseur makes is firm, yet calm and un-

hurried. Traditional masseurs need considerable phy-

sical strength; but they also possess that other quality of

all good healers: compassion.

Sometimes a patient who has been injured in a car

accident telephones him and he visits that person in the

hospital. At other times he may be called to help some-

one paralysed by a sudden stroke. One of his proudest

achievements was when a man was carried helpless into

his house, but after a few hours of persistent massage, the

man was able to walk home.

In spite of the dwindling numbers of men and

women practicing this old and healing skill in Thailand,

it is still kept alive at Wat Sam Phya Temple in Bangkok.

Here patients are treated every day by four traditional

masseurs — three women and one man. It is to be hoped

that this valuable skill and knowledge which so effec-

tively can relieve pain and tension in others, will never