Maharaja


Mahārāja ; is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or "high king". A few ruled mighty states informally called empires, including ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh, founder of the Sikh Empire, and Maharaja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, but 'title inflation' soon led to most being rather mediocre or even petty in real power, while compound titles were among the attempts to distinguish some among their ranks.
The female equivalent, Maharani, denotes either the wife of a Maharaja, and also in states where that was customary, a woman ruling without a husband. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajmata "queen mother". Maharaja Kumar generally denotes a son of a Maharaja, but more specific titulatures are often used at each court, including Yuvaraja for the heir. The form "Maharaj" indicates a separation of noble and religious offices, although the fact that in Hindi the suffix -a is silent makes the two titles near homophones.

Etymology

The word Maharaja originates in Sanskrit and is a compound karmadhāraya term from mahānt- "great" and rājan "ruler, king"). It has the Latin cognates magnum "great" and rex "king". Due to Sanskrit's major influence on the vocabulary of most languages in Greater India and Southeast Asia, the term Maharaja is common to many modern Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. The Sanskrit title Maharaja was originally used only for rulers who ruled a considerably large region with minor tributary rulers under them. Since medieval times, the title was used by monarchs of lesser states claiming descent from ancient Maharajas.

Indian subcontinent

On the eve of independence in 1947, British India contained more than 600 princely states, each with its own native ruler, often styled Raja or Rana or Thakur or Nawab, with a host of less current titles as well.
The British directly ruled two-thirds of the Indian subcontinent; the rest was under indirect rule by the above-mentioned princes under the considerable influence of British representatives, such as Residents, at their courts.
The word Maharaja may be understood simply to mean "ruler" or "king", in spite of its literal translation as "great king". This was because only a handful of the states were truly powerful and wealthy enough for their rulers to be considered 'great' monarchs; the remaining were minor princely states, sometimes little more than towns or groups of villages. The word, however, can also mean emperor in contemporary Indian usage.
The title of Maharaja was not as common before the gradual British colonisation of India, upon and after which many Rajas and otherwise styled Hindu rulers were elevated to Maharajas, regardless of the fact that scores of these new Maharajas ruled small states, sometimes for some reason unrelated to the eminence of the state, for example, support to the British in Afghanistan, World War I or World War II. Two Rajas who became Maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.
In the Mughal Empire it was quite common to award to various princes a series of lofty titles as a matter of protocolary rank. The British would, as paramount power do the same.
Many of these elaborate explicitly on the title Maharaja, in the following descending order:
Maharaja itself could also be granted as a personal; non-hereditary style, e.g. in 1941 to Sir Pratap Singh II, Raja of Ali Rajpur
king preferred the title of Chhatrapati as against Maharaja and was the founder and sovereign of the Maratha Empire of India
Furthermore, there were various compound titles simply including other princely styles, such as :
Certain Hindu dynasties even came to use a unique style, including a term which as such is not of princely rank, e.g. Maharaja Gaikwar of Baroda, Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, Maharaja Holkar of Indore, three of the very highest ranking ruling Maratha houses.

Nobiliary and honorary use

Like Raja and various other titles, Maharaja was repeatedly awarded to notables without a princely state, such as zamindars.
Maharaj Kumar means son of a Maharaja or Heir-Apparent; the female equivalent is ''Maharaj Kumari : daughter of a Maharaja.

Nepal

The Gurkha Kings of Nepal used the title of Mahārājādhirāja which was "Sovereign among Great Kings", a title of honour, a degree higher than Mahārājā.
Rana Prime ministers of Nepal used the title of Shree Teen Maharaja.

Southeast Asia

Indonesia

As many Indonesian states started out when the archipelago was still predominantly Hindu or Buddhist, some have been ruled by a maharaja, such as Srivijaya, Majapahit and Kutai Karta Negara. Traditional titles remain in use for the other members of this dynasty, such as Pangeran Ratu for the heir.
Maharaja was also part of the titles of the nobility in the Sumatran sultanate of Aceh. In the past the title of Maharaja is given to leader of the unreigning noble family and the Prime Minister Maharaja Mangkubumi. The last Prime Minister of Aceh who was installed to be the Maharaja Mangkubumi, Habib Abdurrahman el Zahir, also acted as the foreign affairs minister of Aceh but was deposed and exiled to Jeddah by the colonial Dutch East Indies authorities in October 1878. The name Maharaja may also append one as a successor Sultan.

Malaysia

In peninsular Malaysia:
In northern Borneo, the title Maharajah of Sabah and Rajah of Gaya and Sandakan was used from 29 December 1877 to 26 August 1881 by Baron von Overbeck.
The Englishman Capt. James Brooke was declared as Rajah Brooke by the Sultan of Brunei for his role in pacifying the Sarawak revolt against the Sultan during the Raffles' stint. The word Rajah derived from the word Maharaja. In 1842, the Sultan of Brunei ceded Sarawak to Rajah Brooke who founded the Kingdom of Sarawak and a line of dynastic monarchs known as the White Rajahs.
In contemporary Malay usage, the title Maharaja refers to an emperor, e.g. "Maharaja Jepun".

Brunei

In Seri Malayas of the Srivijaya, under the Srivijaya satellite empire of the Majapahit Empire dominated over the whole Malayas far-reaching the present Philippine Archipelago, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia under the Srivijaya Empire of the Majapahit King Maharaja Pamariwasa. The latter's daughter Es-kander was married to an Arab, the third Makdum who promulgated Koranic studies amd was a Srivijaya ruler in Seri who were a Srivijaya Monarchy. In the 12th century with the fall of the empire, the Seri King being a Muslim established the Sultanate of Brunei in 1363 with the throne name Sultan Mohamad Shah. In 1426, he established the sultanate of sulu as his death was recorded in 1431 Mt. Makatangis Sulu grave and 1432 Brunei grave. Both Sulu and Brunei claim the honor of his grave, while his brother, a Johore Prince Makdum Karim the second Makdum after the first one Makdum Tuan Masha'ik. Karim ul-makdum re=enforced Islam, a Srivijaya Johore ruler, later established the Sultanate of Maguindanao-Ranao after taking the political authority of his father-in-law Tomaoi Aliwya of the Maguiindanao family dynasty. He adapted the title as sultan Aliwya, the first Maguindanao Sultan. The second and third Makdum's father was Sultan Betatar of Taif Arabia who was the 9th progeny of Hasan, the grandson of prophet Sayyidina Muhammad.

Compound Malay titles

The word can also be part of titles used by Malay nobility:
Most famous was Bendahara Seri Maharaja Tun Mutahir of Malacca and Datuk Maharaja Lela Pandak Lam of Perak.
The palace marshal of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of modern Malaysia is called Datuk Maharaja Lela Penghulu Istana Negara.
In the Sulu Sultanate in the Philippines, the Raja Muda is the heir to the throne, the Maharaja Adinda is the second heir apparent and the Maharaja Lailah acts as chief of the palace. Eventually, Maharajah Adinda was also used to refer to a particular lineage within the royal families.

Thailand

The King of Thailand has been called a "Maharaj".