King Naresuan the Great—Phichit, Thailand.
Posted by: 
Ianatlarge
N 16° 22.380 E 100° 05.346
47Q E 616311 N 1810506
The statue of a famous Thai king in rural, central Thailand.
Waymark Code: WMDX53
Location: Thailand
Date Posted: 03/05/2012
Views: 1
Somdet Phra Naresuan Maharat (King Naresuan the Great), (1555-1605 CE) is one of the great Kings of Thailand. He is widely revered in the Kingdom due to his having freed the Siamese people from Burmese rule. The future King was born to the King of what is now the quiet, central Thai city of Phitsanulok. At that time Phitsanulok was am important city of the Siamese, Sukhothai Kingdom, which in turn was subordinate to Burma. As part of this political arrangement the young Naresuan and his brother were held in Burma as hostages for the good behaviour of his father, the King of Phitsanulok.
There is a legend that the young future King was lonely while in captivity, and befriended chickens (and the practice of cock fighting). This legend is made manifest, by an abundance of statues of chickens located at shrines and statues to the King.
After Naresuan returned to Phitsanulok and became King, he declared the Siamese people and kingdoms independent from Burma. An iconic image of the King is his pouring of water from a container, which symbolised his rejection of Burmese overlordship. This declaration required two decades or more of intermittent and complicated conflict to enforce. Naresuan also moved the capital of the Siamese state southwards to Ayutthaya, which was to remain the capital of the new Kingdom of Ayutthaya for the following three centuries.
In a remote area of the somewhat remote province of Phichit Province in central Thailand is a Buddhist temple, Wat Mai Play Hoi, as transliterated by myself. In the grounds of this temple are a number of interesting sights. One of which is a group of five statues of Thai kings. The second of these kings (from the left) is that of King Naresuan.
He stands on a plinth, life-sized, dressed in attire of his era, and pouring water out onto the ground, in a gesture of defiance. As with most public statues in Thailand this is also a shrine. Locals will come by and pay their respects to the King.
URL of the statue: Not listed
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