The village of Bang Rachan (, ) was in the north of Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam, the predecessor state of modern Thailand. Today their village is located in Khai Bang Rachan District of Sing Buri Province. The village is remembered in Thai popular history for its resistance against the Burmese invaders in the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767) that ended the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
According to Thai tradition, the Burmese northern invasion army led by General Ne Myo Thihapate was held up for five months at Bang Rachan. The popular narrative cannot all be true as the entire northern campaign took just over five months (mid-August 1765 to late-January 1766), and the northern Burmese army was still stuck in Phitsanulok, in north-central Siam, as late as December 1765. Burmese sources mention "petty chiefs" (cf. "mueang") stalling the northern Burmese army's advance, but it was early in the campaign along the Wang River in northern Siam (not near Ayutthaya) during the rainy season (August–October 1765). The Burmese general who was then present near Ayutthaya was not Thihapate, but rather Maha Nawrahta, whose southern army was waiting for the northern Burmese army to show up to attack Ayutthaya. It appears that the three verified events, petty chiefs resisting Thihapate in the north, Thihapate's campaign period of five months, and Maha Nawrahta dawdling near Ayutthaya—have merged to create this Siamese mythology.
The Thai narrative is now an ingrained part of Thai popular culture. The 2000 Thai film Bang Rajan dramatizes the Thai version of events.
One of the more iconic images is that of Nai Thong Min, who becomes drunk and furiously rides a gigantic water buffalo into battle against the Burmese. The public memory of the battle has been likened to that of the Battle of the Alamo in the minds of Americans.
Historical revisionism
In 1765, Burmese armies of the Konbaung kingdom entered Siam. Burmese accounts describe the invasion as having a deliberate and predetermined ambition, credited to King Mang Ra (Hsinbyushin). Other sources and analysts of the period, most notably Damrong Rajanubhab, the father of Thai history, consider this to be historical revisionism and believe that the Burmese did not initially invade with the intention of permanent conquest nor with any successful campaign on Ayutthaya itself.
The Burmese forces encountered little resistance from the Siamese people and had advanced close to Ayutthaya, but hesitated to attack due to their uncertainty regarding the strength of the enemy forces they would have to face. There was much raiding of the surrounding countryside as well as a policy the Burmese had implemented where they had taken all the rice paddies from the villages to feed their armies and demanded all the women from the villages they raided, thus eventually a policy which provoked the Siamese people into resistance.
The beginning of the resistance and the first notable accounts of Bang Rachan occurred when a group of Siamese Warriors from various villages—notably Sibuathong, Pho Krap and Pho Thale—led by Nai Ten, Nai Chote, Nai In, Nai Muang, Nai Thong Kao and Nai Dok Mai, who regularly lured a group of Burmese soldiers into the forest with the promise of rescuing women who were held captive and then eventually turning upon them, killing most of the Burmese soldiers along the way. After their tactics and strategies were eventually predicted by the remaining Burmese soldiers at their camps, they retreated to Bang Rachan, where most of the population of the villages of Mueang Wiset Chaichan, Mueang Sing and Mueang San had fled.
Bang Rachan is described as being ideally a defensible village. A place where foodstuffs were plentiful, a village on high ground and difficult for the enemies to raid. In addition to its ideal position and its swelling numbers of warriors, Bang Rachan had at this point approximately 400 warriors. They had eleven leaders (Nai Thong Min, Nai Panreuang, Nai Thong Saeng Yai, Nai Chan Nuad Keao, Nai Ten, Nai Chote, Nai In, Nai Muang, Nai Thong Kao, Nai Dok Mai and Nai Khun Sun) and had worked together on making fortifications for the village. A Buddhist monk called Thammachote had also been invited into the village monastery where he was held in great respect by the villagers. The villagers believed him to have great powers and knowledge of spells, charms, and incantations.