In the part of the world now known as Thailand, there is evidence of people thriving earlier than anywhere else in the world. According to the story, Samut Khoi (Thai: สมุดไทย [sā. mùt tʰāj]) were folding-book manuscripts widely used in many Buddhist cultures, including Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar, where they are known as parabaik.¹ As trade and relations developed between villages, then city-states, and finally kingdoms, this knowledge was shared by travelers and adopted by the locals. 

Legend has it that Thai medicine originated with Shivagakomarpaj, a historical figure who served as a physician to the Buddha’s Sangha (community of monks and nuns). Although he was a minor personality in the scriptures, Shivago holds a deified status in Thai Buddhism. He is lauded throughout the country as Father Doctor, and statues of him appear alongside the Buddha on nearly every healing practitioner’s altar everywhere you go.²

The King Ramkhamhaeng Stone Inscription (dated 1292) is the earliest evidence of Thai healing, as it describes the royal plant garden in Sukhothai, the Thai capital at the time. Even before this, during the Khmer Empire, which ruled the Northeast, there is evidence that King Jayavarman VII (reigned c. 1181–1218) established 102 traditional healing centers. In the 16th century, while King Narai ruled the kingdom from Ayutthaya, he established hospitals and herbal dispensaries across the kingdom.³

When Burmese enemies sacked the old Siamese capital of Ayutthaya in 1767, they also destroyed most of the medicine records.⁴

Years later, Rama I became king of Siam and initiated a cultural renaissance to restore the kingdom’s former glory. He and his descendants collected and preserved the arts and sciences, renovated temples, and built schools. Rama I codified and organized all surviving medical knowledge into a system closely following the principles of Indian Ayurveda. After the fall of Ayutthaya and the founding of Bangkok (1782), King Rama III began promoting traditional healing, establishing the school at Wat Pho. However, interest declined as the government and the people increasingly put their trust in Western medicine introduced to the area by Christian missionaries.⁵

 In 1977, the World Health Organization promoted the preservation of ethnoheritage.⁶ Consequently, the Ministry of Health focused on revitalizing indigenous treatments. This led to the establishment of the Foundation for the Promotion of Thai Traditional Medicine and other related organizations and agencies, which have been supported by national economic and social development plans.⁷

During World War II and amid drug scarcity, the Thai government again turned its attention to herbal remedies, employing German expertise to establish an experimental medicinal garden in the eastern province of Chanthaburi. This garden cataloged over 400 indigenous plants, along with their characteristics and medicinal values.⁸ 

In 1977, the Thai government established the Foundation for the Promotion of Thai Traditional Medicine and added ethnomedicine to its five-year university program in response to the World Health Organization’s promotion of Thailand’s traditional national heritage. Since then, the importance of Thai herbal healing has continued to grow.⁹