Phraya Phichai

Phraya Phichai was born in 1741 at Ban Huai Kha, Phichai, Uttaradit Province, having four brothers and sisters but three of them died before Phichai"s birth. His parents were unknown. His birthname was Choi (th: จ้อย; means: the little one).

When Choi was a young boy, he loved to practice Thai boxing and would always be running away without his parents knowing, to train in the art. He trained with many teachers of that time.

One day, Choi left home northernwards and met with a boxing instructor named Thiang (th: เที่ยง) at Wat Ban Kaeng (th: วัดบ้านแก่ง). Choi then became a beloved student of Instructor Thiang and was renamed Thong Di (ทองดี), his instructor called him as Thong Di Fan Khao (ทองดีฟันขาว; means Thong Di whose teeth are white) as he did not chew betel nut. The Thai people loved chewing betel nut, which made their teeth black, since the ancient time until the Government under the premiership of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram issued a ban on chewing the nut in 1942.

One day, Phraya Tak (later to become King Taksin the Great of the Thonburi kingdom) was holding a boxing contest in the city of Tak during a traditional festival. Now a young man of twenty years, Thong Di asked the ring master to find him a match. The towns people having never seen the boxer before suggested that he take an opponent who had little experience so that it would make an exciting fight, but Thong Di insisted that he would fight the most skillful boxer in the town.

A famous boxing master of Tak, Nai Hao, who nobody dared to challenge, gladly agreed to take the fight. A huge crowd gathered to see the young boxer Thong Di fight the invincible Nai Hao. Throughout the bout Thong Di showed brilliant Thai boxing style.

Seeing a resounding victory over Nai Hao after witnessing such a formidable display, Phraya Tak showed no hesitation in asking Thong Di to join his army. Phraya Tak was pleased sufficiently to then appoint Thong Di to be his personal bodyguard.

The Emperor of China Qianlong, was alarmed by the military might of the Burmese. From 1765 to 1769, the Emperor sent his armies four times to subdue the Burmese, but all four invasions failed. Siam was under the control of the Burmese since the sacking of Ayutthaya in 1767, but the Burmese had to withdraw the bulk of garrison army from Siam to ward of the Chinese invasions, leaving behind only a small contingent. Phraya Tak taking advantage of the situation, organized his men into an army and drove back the Burmese force.

Phraya Tak started off as a guerrilla leader with only five hundred followers. But within a decade the Siamese Kingdom was reborn and grew into an empire that subdued both Laos and Cambodia under its dominion. During the independence war, Phraya Tak managed to escape to Rayong on the East coast of Siam. Here with the help of Thong Di, now his Commander-in-Chief, raised an army and declared all out war on Burma. The action was to eventually regain freedom for the Siamese people.

Thong Di, under the guidance of Phraya Tak and using guerrilla tactics, won back many small towns and villages from the Burmese. It was during one of the many battles, that Thong Di was to become famous. In 1773, a Burmese army under the command of Ne Myo Thihapate was sent to capture the City of Phichai. Thong Di led the Siamese army and fought him at Wat Aka and Chao Phraya Surasi helped him battle the Burmese. The Burmese general was driven back and retreated with heavy casualties.

In the heat of the battle which Thong Di fought with daab song mue (two handed swords) and after many fierce engagements he slipped and used one of his swords to control himself by pointing it into the ground, as he leaned on the sword it broke in half. Thong Di used his Thai boxing techniques. One dap and one broken one, he led his army to victory forcing the Burmese back across the border.

As a result of this battle, he was known as "Phraya Phichai Dap Hak". Eventually after fifteen years of war the Siamese under king Taksin had forced the Burmese army back and Siam regained all of its original frontiers.