The history of Thai massage is more complex than this legend of a single founder would suggest. Thai massage, like Thai traditional medicine (TTM) more generally, is a combination of influences from Indian, Chinese, and Southeast Asian cultural spheres and traditions of medicine, and the art as it is practiced today is likely to be the product of a 19th-century synthesis of various healing traditions from all over the kingdom. Even today, there is considerable variation from region to region across Thailand, and no single routine or theoretical framework is universally accepted among healers. The founder of Thai massage and medicine is said to have been Chiwaka Komaraphat (ชวกโกมารภจจ Jīvaka Komarabhācca), who is said in the Pāli Buddhist canon to have been the Buddha’s physician over 2,500 years ago. He is recorded in ancient documents as having extraordinary medical skills, his knowledge of herbal medicine, and having treated important people of his day, including the Buddha himself.