Raja - Usage Outside India

Usage Outside India

• In the Sinhalese language, the title 'Raja' means King of the Sri Lanka and has the entire power and the equal status in an island wide. Rajamanthri is the Prince lineage of King's generation especially Rajamanthri is aristocracy of the Kingdom of Kandy in Sri Lanka history. These native Royal Family in Sri Lanka.

• In the Indonesian language, the word raja means "king". Leaders of local tribes and old kingdoms had that title before Indonesia became an independent nation. Various traditional princely states in Indonesia still style their ruler Raja, or did so until their abolition.

• In the Malay language, the word raja also means "king". In Malaysia, the ruler of the state of Perlis is titled the Raja of Perlis, which literally means the 'King of Perlis'. Most of the other state rulers are titled sultans. Nevertheless, the raja has an equal status with the other rulers and is one of the electors who designate one of their number as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong every five years. In the state of Perak, the title 'Raja' means 'Prince'. The White Rajahs (Raja Putih) of Sarawak in Borneo were James Brooke and his dynasty.

• In the Philippines, Italian historian Antonio Pigafetta relates in his document of the first circumnavigation that when the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reached on March 28, 1521, the island-port of Mazaua in Mindanao he was met by Raia Siaiu, the King of Mazaua and Raia Calambu, the King of Butuan. 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 López de Legazpi, arrived in Manila, they were met by the King of Manila, Rajah Sulaiman III. In the south of the country, various subdivisional princes among the Moro peoples are still given the titles Rajah or Maharajah.
  • All of major nation-states in the Philippines (which included kingdoms and principalities in Luzon, the Visayas and some parts of Mindanao, excluding the Sultanate of Maguindanao) and the Cordillera were annexed by the Spanish Empire in the 16th century.
  • Upon the Christianization of most parts of the Philippine Archipelago, the Rajahnee and Datus (king) of the pre-Hispanic kingdoms and principalities retained their right to govern their territory under the Spanish Empire. King Philip II of Spain, in a law signed June 11, 1594, commanded the Spanish colonial officials in the Archipelago that these native royalties and nobilities be given the same respect, and privileges that they had enjoyed before their conversion. Later, the Filipino royals and nobles formed part of the exclusive, and elite ruling class, called the Principalía (Noble Class) of the Philippines.