BANG RAJAN MEMORIAL

VIDEO DESCRIPTION

 

 

This memorial in Singburi commemorates the heroes of Bang Rajan (Bang Rachan), also referred to as Ban Rajan (Ban Rachan), a local camp or fortress where in 1767, at the end of the Ayutthaya Period, a handful of heroic warriors reportedly offered resistance for five months against a superior force of Burmese troops led by General Surin Chokhong before being defeated, thus endorsing the Thai proverb: ‘one is unable to extinguish a fire with little water’. The events that happened there have become a Thai classic, used as an example to later generations to show the courage of the Thai people and bare lasting witness to a struggle which was paid for with blood, that is ‘blood for soil’, words still used today in the national  Anthem. However, the historicity of this popular narrative is much in doubt and most scholars now agree that it is likely a fabrication based on historical events, some that in part took place elsewhere, mixed with local events and myths. The popular version, which has been made into a movie, features some 400 warriors led by eleven heroic leaders, which are eternalized in the monument at the memorial park.