Bang Rajan

In 1765, during the legendary struggle between the Burmese and Siamese empires in what is now present day Thailand, the Burmese forces advanced on the Siamese capital. Two vast armies descended on the city by different routes. More than 100,000 Burmese troops entered Siam from the West and arrived at the city unhindered. The other column of 100,000, invading from the North, found themselves delayed for a full five months by the most unlikely of foes.Against impossible odds, a small village of ordinary men and women with extraordinary courage withheld the advances of the Burmese juggernaut, over and over again. As the Burmese suppression of the surrounding countryside grew more brutal, this small thorn in the side of the giant slowly swelled with refugees who came to stand and fight when they could run no more. Trading their ploughs for swords, they fought for their homes, their dignity and their lives. Through eight bloody clashes, and with no aid from the capital, the farmers battled for their freedom. Together they struggled against the odds with innovative tactics and unfaltering bravery until Burma finally turned the sum of its wrath on the village. The story of these courageous villagers has endured, spreading throughout empires and across centuries to live on in the hearts and mind of the Siamese, for all time. This is the legend of BANG RAJAN.