Maharaja

India

On the eve of independence in 1947, India (including present day Pakistan) consisted of more than 600 princely kingdoms each with its own raja (if the king were Hindu) or nawab/sultan (if he was Muslim).

Related Topics:
1947 - India - Pakistan - Hindu - Sultan - Muslim

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The British directly ruled 1/3rd of India, the rest was ruled by the above mentioned princes under the considerable influence of British representatives in court.

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The word maharaja may be construed to be simply "king" (as in Jammu and Kashmir), in spite of its literal translation as "great king". This was because only a handful of the kingdoms were truly powerful and wealthy enough for their rulers to be entitled kings; the remaining were minor principalities, towns or groups of villages. The word, however, still means emperor in contemporary Indian usage.

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The title of Maharaja was not as common before the British colonization of India, upon which many rajas were elevated to maharajas, regardless of the fact that scores of these new maharajas ruled small kingdoms. Frequently a Raja was elevated to the rank of Maharaja for some reason unrelated to the eminence of the state, for example support in World War I or World War II. Two rajas who became maharajas in the twentieth century were the Maharaja of Cochin and the legendary Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala.

Related Topics:
World War I - World War II - Cochin - Kapurthala

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Some Hindu nobles in Hyderabad & Berar, like the Diwan (Prime Minister) Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad, had this title also.

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Variations of this title include Maharana (Udaipur), Maharawal (Dungarpur/Jaisalmer), Maharawat (Pratapgarh), Maharao (Kotah, Bundi), and Maharaol (Baria).

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