raja

An English spelling of raja, a title meaning king or ruler in South Asia. Under British rule in India, rajah was used for the rulers of some princely states and as an honorific title recognised or conferred by the British authorities. It did not necessarily imply full sovereignty, since princely rulers acknowledged British paramountcy while retaining varying degrees of internal authority. Rajah was particularly common in nineteenth-century British usage; raja is now the usual English spelling.