Nai Meuang (นายเมือง)

Thai. ‘Mr. City’. Name of one of the eleven heroic leaders who in 1767, at the end of the Ayutthaya period, fought the invading Burmese in defence of the Bang Rajan fort in Singburi (fig.). He lived in Sri Bua Thong (ศรีบัวทอง) village in Singburi and joined the battle with the villagers of Bang Rachan. He, together with Nai Choht (นายโชติ), Nai In, Nai Thaen and a number of villagers set up ambushes to kill Burmese soldiers and he went to invite Phra Ajaan Thammachot (พระอาจารย์ธรรมโชติ), a Buddhist monk from the province of Suphanburi of whom it was believed that he possessed special magic knowledge attained by the practice of kasin, to come  and stay at Bang Rajan Camp. The monk accepted the invitation and after arriving at the fort he distributed pah prachiad (fig.) and takrut (fig.) amulets to the warriors of Bang Rajan in order to make them invulnerable. Nai Meuang died on the battlefield. In iconography, he is usually depicted seated while holding a sword, and one arm held up. 回