Forgotten in Thailand’s troubled Deep South, stands a dilapidated wooden palace once home to a Malay ruler, the last of his dynasty. Locals call it the “House of the Raja,” a place suffused with loss and solitude, laden with the region’s glorious past and tragic present. Intrigued by this demonized, little-known borderland, photographer Xavier Comas chanced upon this mysterious house and felt compelled to delve into its past. The caretaker, a Muslim shaman who held rituals inside, invited the author to stay and initiated him into its hidden dimensions. As Comas builds a bond of trust with the inhabitants of the house, the missing pieces of its history gently fall into place, revealing an ancient culture long hidden and the building’s ties to the centuries-old struggles in this contested region.Comas’ evocative black-and-white photographs take us into a realm of hauntings, mystic powers and fading memories. His first-hand account enthralls the reader with vivid descriptions in which the real and the magical entwine. The House of the Raja provides a missing key to controversial issues of legacy, belief and identity in Thailand’s Muslim South.

The House of the Raja: Splendour and Desolation in Thailand's Deep South

Arts & Photography

Comas, Xavier

Photography & Video

River Books Press Dist A/C

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Books by Comas, Xavier

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Comas, Xavier. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The House of the Raja: Splendour and Desolation in Thailand's Deep South