Muay Thia boxing Research

There are not that many records to the twentieth century Thai history. the Knowledge of Muay Thia boxing has been passed down as a tradition, because of this and because of how long the tradition has been going for makes this really difficult to be positive on the facts.  Muay Thia was originally for  peace and self-defence as in Thailand it has been an important thing for the thai people and for the Thai military. Thai soldiers have studied martial arts since the early years. Muay Thai earns kids and adults money for its competitors and fights and start to get learnt from 4 years of age. During the times between 1234 to1377. Muay Thai boxing became a means of art and self defence in many ways. The thia people started learning Muay Thia from 4 upwards and started fighting and entering in to competitions at the age of 6. 50 miles north of Bangkok is the ancient city of Ayuthaya and was once the great city of Thailand’s capital for over 500 years. Here a platoon of elite guards was formed to protect the king. Officers were highly skilled in Muay Thai boxing. As well as its continued use as a practical fighting technique Muay Thai became a sport where spectators went to watch for entertainment.

 The Ayuthaya are from the Art of Muay Kaad Chuek in Thia land aka Muay Thia. That is the use of unrefined hemp wrappings to protect the fingers and wrists. A length of around 20 metres was enough to bind hand. The use of Muay Kaad Chuek quickly spread, as a bound fist is tougher, stronger and better protected against injury than an unbound one. It is said that before a contest fighters immersed their fists in water. This would cause the binding to harden when it dried, making it capable of producing serious injury. Some people go further and claim that fighters dipped their hands in glue and ground glass. Such a contest would certainly have made a gory sight! To this day an annual Muay Kaad Chuek contest with Laos is held in Nong Khai near the NE border with Laos, on the Thai side of the Mekong River. A Muay Kaad Chuek contest with Burma is staged in the Mae Sot, western Thailand, during the Sonkran (Thai New Year) festivities (April 12-14). Boxers fight until knockout. If both competitors remain standing at the end of the bout a match is declared a draw.

This infomation is from http://www.horizonmuaythai.com/history.html#muay_thai_origins
i am looking for the history of muay thia because i want to understand what i am photographing and also to try and capture photographs that people can relate to.