City - Ban Muang Ngai State - JANGWAT CHIANG MAI Country - Thailand
About
At Muang Ngai, just north of Chiang Dao, there is a stupa and reconstructed wooden fort built in honour of King Naresuan the Great of Ayutthaya.
After beating the Burmese near Suphan Buri in 1593, King Naresuan headed north and won back a lot of territory between Chiang Mai and Fang from the Burmese.
The king's army rested near the present-day village of Muang Ngai. The sculptures on the stupa depict various scenes in the king's life, including his most famous victory - killing the Burmese Crown Prince in a duel on elephant back in the encounter near Suphan Buri.
If anyone is heading north on Highway 107, it's just a short detour from the main road and is signposted in English and Thai.
Thanks, Len, for this very informative description. It must be an amazing country. I have been there only once, and this was a business trip, so didn't see much (Bangkok, Ayutthaya).
Regards, Markus, and thanks also for your other comments.
No, I'm not too sure when it was built. It was already in existence the first time I went there in the early 1980s. The monument is not particularly old, though, I do know that much.
In fact, Muang Ngai itself was burned down about 1869 by a Shan warlord, whose aim was to rid the area of the Lanna Tai residents. By 1884, however, Muang Ngai had a population of about 2,000 - mainly, it was said, made up of 'witches' (or people possessed) who had been driven out of Chiang Mai. There's something on this in Holt S. Hallett's A THOUSAND MILES ON AN ELEPHANT IN THE SHAN STATES, originally published in 1890 and since reissued by White Lotus, Bangkok (1988), but it doesn't get me anywhere nearer finding out the date of the monument. If I go there again, I'll take a closer look at any inscriptions.
Sawasdee krab, Khun Ray - Just getting you used to the language for your next holiday...Who knows, maybe you'll be able to get up to Muang Ngai and take better pictures of the monument! As usual, thanks for commenting. Chok dee jaak Len
You have caught some wonderful details in the whole shot of this monument Len, and provided some very interesting history on the subject. Well done my friend (as I was writing this comment my wife called up to say that her brother had just phoned..He works in Oman but lives some of the time in Thailand with a lovely Thai wife) Best wishes Len....Ray
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{K:23722} 11/1/2005
