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Maharaja (also spelled maharajah) comes from the Sanskrit words maha meaning "great" and raja meaning "king". It was and is used primarily for Hindu potentates. The female equivalent to Maharaja is Maharani (or Maharanee), a title used either by the wife of a maharaja or by a woman ruling in her own right.

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).

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.

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 principalties, towns or groups of villages. The word, however, still means emperor in contemporary Indian usage.

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 did not deserve that title on account of the small size of their 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.

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

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

2. In MalaysiaThe Federation of Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. It consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea: Peninsular Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula is bordered to the north by Thailand and to the south by Singapore; East Malaysia, the title of the monarch of the state of JohorPeninsular Malaysia Johor formerly Johore is one of the states of Malaysia. It is the southernmost state in Peninsular Malaysia being South of Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang and North of Singapore from which it is separated by the Straits of Johor. from 1873 to 1885. The title sultan was adopted later and is in current usage.

3. Part of titles of MalayMalay people Malay can mean: The Malay language From or related to Malaysia Malay people See also Cape Malays, Malay nationalism Communes that begin with Malay in Yonne, France, Malay-le-Grand and Malay-le-Petit. nobility, the most famous of whom was Bendahara Seri Maharaja Tun Mutahir of MalaccaPeninsular Malaysia Malacca (or Melaka in Malay) is a state of Malaysia, located in the southern part of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. The state's capital is also called Melaka or Malacca. Although the first Malay sultanate started in Ma (executed 1509) and Datuk Maharaja Lela Pandak Endut of PerakPeninsular Malaysia Perak is one of the 14 states in Malaysia. It is one of the largest states in Peninsular Malaysia. Perak also means silver in Malay language. The name comes most probably from the silvery colour of tin, the main output of Perak a long (executed 1876). The palace marshal of the Yang di-Pertuan AgongYang di-Pertuan Agong a Malay title usually translated as "Supreme Head", "Supreme Ruler" or "Paramount Ruler", is the official title of the head of state of Malaysia. The position is often glossed as King in English. Since 1993, the full title in Malay h (king) of modern MalaysiaThe Federation of Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. It consists of two geographical regions divided by the South China Sea: Peninsular Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula is bordered to the north by Thailand and to the south by Singapore; East Malaysia is called Datuk Maharaja Lela Penghulu Istana Negara.