Similar to dojos with a portrait of Morihei Ueshiba, a 19th-century Japanese Martial arts teacher or sensei. Thai Massage institutions or businesses have Jivaka, an ancient Ayurvedic physician who lived in the same period as Siddhartha Gautama widely known as the Buddha during the 5th century in ancient India, Jivaka was the personal physician of the Buddha and this is why he was also deeply associated with Buddhism.
Along with his other medical expertise during his time. It is believed that he invented the use of yoga and other ancient medical knowledge which was also passed to the Buddhist monks of that time.
As Buddhism spreads from India to eastern Asia, so does his medical teachings and knowledge. The migration of Tai people from Southern China may have brought their know-how with their religion and medical expertise around a thousand years ago. The Yoga invented by Jivaka has been developed into assisted yoga which is now known as Thai Massage by Thai people and still regard Jivaka as the inventor of the discipline giving him full honor and credit for creating this procedure this is why most Thai massage places have Jivaka's portrait.
About Thai Massage. Jivaka is not Thai and Thailand or Siam did not exist during his time, so we cannot regard him as the inventor of Thai massage. However, Thai people adopted his ayurvedic medical knowledge to adapt as a Thai Massage.
There are plenty of information sources over the internet. This is only our understanding that Jivaka was from India, associated with the Buddha and his medical expertise contributed to the creation of Thai massage.
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