Rájah

Rájah, or more correctly RÁJÁ (from the Sanskrit rájah, 'king,' cognate with the Lat. reg- of rex), originally a title which belonged to princes of Hindu race who, either as independent sovereigns or as feudatories, governed a territory. Now, however, the title has a much wider extension: it is used of independent sovereigns, of subject or 'protected' princes, of petty chiefs, of great landowners, and of some persons of eminence who are neither rulers nor landowners.