A maharajah is an Indian prince or king, especially the ruler of a princely state in the old days of the British Raj and before. The title marks high rank — a great king, not a small local chief. In English you will also see maharaja, with no h at the end; that spelling is very common now. Maharajah is an older-looking spelling of the same word. Today the word is mostly historical: India no longer has ruling maharajahs in that old political sense, though the families, the palaces, and the title in stories remain. It is a history-book and travel-writing word, not everyday talk. Though actually, people sometimes use it loosely for any very rich Indian prince in a film; the real title was more precise than that.