Raja

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Raja

For other uses, see Raja (disambiguation)
Raja (disambiguation)

Raja may refer to* An alternate spelling of Rajah, meaning an Indian monarch* Rajan, the Sanskrit for "king, ruler"* Raja Yoga, one of the four major Yogic paths of Hinduism...
and Rajah (disambiguation)
Rajah (disambiguation)

Rajah may refer to* Rajah, an alternate spelling of Raja, meaning an Indian monarch* Rajah , a fictional character in the Marvel Universe...
.

A Raja (Sanskrit ???? (raja), also spelled Rajah) is a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya

Kshatriya

Kshatriya is one of the four varna in Hinduism in Hinduism. It constitutes the military and ruling order of the traditional Vedic-Hindu social system as outlined by the Vedas and the Laws of Manu....
varna.

The word 'raja'means 'rajan' in nepali which means the supreme king.It's normally the first given name in Nepal and surname in India which isused by hindus and buddhist.

The title has a long history in the Indian subcontinent

History of India

The known history of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c....
and Southeast Asia

History of Southeast Asia

The history of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional players and foreign powers. Though 11 countries currently make up the region, the history of each country is intertwined with all the others....
, being attested from the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
.

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A Raja (Sanskrit ???? (raja), also spelled Rajah) is a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya

Kshatriya

History of India

The known history of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c....
and Southeast Asia

History of Southeast Asia

Rigveda

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
rex (genitive regis), the Gaulish rix etc. (originally denoting tribal chiefs or heads of small 'city states'), ultimately a vrddhi

Vrddhi

Vrddhi is a Sanskrit word meaning "growth" . In Panini 's grammar, it is also a technical term for a group of long vowels. In Indo-European studies, it has become a term for the lengthened grade of the Indo-European ablaut vowel gradation peculiar to the Indo-European languages....
derivation from a PIE

Pie

A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweetness or savoury ingredients....
root "to straighten, to order, to rule".

Rather common variants in Hindi, used for the same royal rank in (parts of) India include Rana, Rao, Raol, Rawal and Rawat. The female form, queen, mainly used for a Raja's wife, is ???? (rani) (sometimes spelled Ranee), from Sanskrit ?????? (rajñi) (compare Old Irish rígain) or Thai Rajanee (Queen).

Raja, the lower title Thakore
Thakore

Thakur, Thakore, Thakar, Thakrar, Thakhor etc., is an Indian feudal and colonial title in Hindi. A Thikana is the state or estate of a Thakur....
and many variations, compounds and derivations including either of these were used in and around India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
by most Hindu, Muslim
Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
and some Buddhist and Sikh rulers, while Muslims also used Nawab
Nawab

A Nawab or Nawaab was originally the subedar or viceroy of a subah or region of the Mughal empire. It became a high title for Muslim nobles....
or Sultan
Sultan

Sultan is an Islamic honorifics, with several historical meanings. Originally it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", or "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ???? sulah, meaning "authority" or "power"....
, and still is commonly used in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
.

However in Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, Raja is still used by many Muslim Rajput
Muslim Rajputs

Muslim Rajputs are the Rajputs that converted to Islam. The Raj-Put were ruling royal warrior clans of South Asia from ancient times has a long and well documented history of warrior kings and a strong martial reputation....
clans as hereditary titles.

Raja is also used as a name
Name

A name is a label for a noun, , normally used to distinguish one from another. Names can identify a class or Category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given wiktionary:context....
by Hindus and Sikhs.

Compound and derived titles
A considerable number of princely styles, used by rulers, their families and/or even enobled courtiers, include the title/root Raja:
Rao Raja, a juxtaposition of two equivalent titles, was used by the rulers of Bundi
Bundi

Bundi is a city and a municipality of approximately 88,000 inhabitants in the Hadoti List of regions in India of Rajasthan States and territories of India in northwest India....
until they were awarded the higher title of Maharao Raja.

Raja Bahadur is a typical Mughal
Mughal era

The Mughal era is the historic period of the Mughal Empire in India, it ran from the early sixteenth century, to a point in the early eighteenth century when the Mughal Emperors' power had dwindled....
compound, as the adjective Bahadur 'valourous' always raises one rank in the imperial court protocol; in the specific hierarchy among the (en)noble(d) Hindu retainers at the court of the Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad
Hyderabad State

Hyderabad state was the largest princely state in the erstwhile British Indian Empire. It was located in the south-central region of the Indian subcontinent, and was ruled, from 1724 until 1948, by a hereditary Nizam....
, it was the equivalent of the rank Nawab
Nawab

A Nawab or Nawaab was originally the subedar or viceroy of a subah or region of the Mughal empire. It became a high title for Muslim nobles....
for Muslim members of the retinue.

Maharaja
Maharaja

The word Maharaja is Sanskrit for "great king" or "high king" . Due to Sanskrit's major influence on the vocabulary of most languages in India, the term 'maharaja' is common to many modern languages, such as Oriya language, Punjabi language, Bengali language, Hindi, Gujrati, etc....
and equivalent compound of variants on Raja with the prefix Maha- 'Great' (e.g. Maharana, Maharawal) mean Great King; the word originally denoted a Raja who had conquered other Rajas, thus becoming a great ruler, but was soon adopted or awarded by the paramount ruler
Paramount Ruler

The term Paramount Ruler, or sometimes Paramount King, is a generic description, though occasionally also used as an actual title, for a number of rulers' position in relative terms, as the summit of a feudal-type pyramid of rulers of lesser polities in a given historical and geographical context, often of different ranks, which all re...
of India (Mughal
Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire was a Muslim imperial power of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, ruled most of the Indian Subcontinent by the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and ended in the mid-19th century....
or British) as a hollow style too, causing too massive title inflation and devaluation to remain a truly high distinction.

Raja Perumal means godly king - supposed to be the greatest title assigned to an Indian king. Legacy has it that kings with the title have time and time again defeated acts of denigration by Parama, the jealous warmonger.
Rajadhiraja means King of Kings; again, through title devaluation this is less prestigious then the equivalents in most linguistic families.

in South India
South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the Union territories of India of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area....
, the title of the Samrat (Hindu 'emperor') of Vijayanagar was Raya instead of (Maha)Raja.
A number of medieval rulers in Southeast Asia used variants such as the devotional titles Buddharaja and Devaraja or the geographically specific Lingaraja.

Uparaja
Uparaja

Ouparath, also Ouparaja, or Uparaja, are titles for viceregal positions reserved for of the Buddhist dynasties in Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Laos, as well as some minor tributary kingdoms of these....
(with its own variations and derivations; can mean viceroy or other high dynastic ranks).
Racha Khan (Raja Khan) the common title for the King of Thailand (see also 'Khan')

Rajas in the Malay world

The ruler
Malay Ruler

The Rulers of the Malay States in Malaysia are the seven Sultans of Kedah, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Selangor and Johor, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and the Raja of Perlis....
of the state
States of Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation which consists of thirteen State and three Federal Territory . Eleven states and two federal territories are located on the Malay Peninsula while the remaining two states and one federal territory are on the island of Borneo....
of Perlis
Perlis

This article is about the Malaysian state. For the computer scientist, see Alan Perlis.Perlis , is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the northern part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and has Satun Province and Songkhla Province Provinces of Thailand on its northern border....
, Malaysia
Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
is titled the Raja of Perlis. Most of the other state rulers are titled Sultans. Nevertheless, the Raja has equal status with the other rulers and is one of the electors who designate one of their number as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Yang di-Pertuan Agong

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the highest ranking office created by the constitution of the federation of Malaysia. The office was first established in 1957....
every five years.

The White Rajahs
White Rajahs

The White Rajahs refer to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, namely the Brookes, who came originally from England....
of Sarawak
Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , it is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia; the second largest, Sabah, lies to the northeast....
in Borneo
Borneo

Borneo is the List of islands by area and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei....
were James Brooke
James Brooke

James, The Rajah of Sarawak was the first White Rajahs of Kingdom of Sarawak. His father, Thomas Brooke, was English people; his mother, Anna Maria, was born in Hertfordshire, the illegitimate daughter of Scottish people peer Colonel William Stuart, 9th Lord Blantyre, and his mistress Harriott Teasdale....
and his dynasty
Dynasty

A dynasty is a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations. A dynasty is also often called a "Royal House", e.g. the House of Saud or House of Habsburg....
.

In the Philippines, Vicentine diarist Antonio Pigafetta relates in his account of the first circumnavigation that when Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan) reached on March 28, 1521 the island-port of Mazaua in Mindanao("masawa" is a Butuanon word meaning "brightly lit") he was met by Raia Siaiu, king of Mazaua, and Raia Calambu, king of Butuan. Magalhães/Magellan entered into the first recorded blood compact (cassi cassi was the Malayan term Magellan used) with Raia Siaiu. When the Spanish fleet, led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, arrived in Manila, they were met by Rajah Sulaiman. This indicates that Pre-Hispanic Manila probably had the same social structure as Indonesia. In Mindanao, various subdivisional princes in Sulu
Sulu

Sulu is an island Provinces of the Philippines of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao . Its capital is Jolo, Sulu and occupies the middle group of islands of the Sulu Archipelago, between Basilan and Tawi-Tawi....
were given the titles Raja or Maharaja.

Various traditional princely states in Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
still style their ruler Raja, or did so until their abolition after which the title became hollow, e.g. Buleleng
Buleleng

File:Lambang Kabupaten Buleleng.pngFile:Location Buleleng Regency.pngFile:Singaraja 200507-8.jpgBuleleng is a Regencies of Indonesia of Bali, Indonesia....
on Bali
Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located at , the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 Provinces of Indonesia with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
.

Raja

Compound and derived titles

Rajas in the Malay world

See also

Sources and references