Raja of Chettinad

The Raja of Chettinad was an honorary title bestowed on the head of the S. Rm. M. family of Kanadukathan in the Chettinad region by the government of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj era in India.[1] The title was first bestowed upon Sir Annamalai Chettiar in 1929[2] in recognition of his public service and has been described by Hartmut Scharfe as a "fictitious hereditary title" of the type that it was possible to confer in accordance with the traditions of the ancient Indian epic text, the Mahabharata.[1]

Rajah Sir S.RM.M.Annamalai Chettiar in London
Rajah Sir M.A.Muthiah Chettiar
  1. ^ a b Scharfe, Hartmut (1989). The State in Indian Tradition. BRILL. p. 57. ISBN 9789004090606.
  2. ^ Bagchi, Amiya Kumar (1970). "European and Indian Entrepreneurship in India, 1900-1930". In Leach, Edmund; Mukherjee, S. N. (eds.). Elites in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 252.