Rajah Baguinda Ali, also known as Rajah Baginda Ali, Rajah Baginda, Raha Baguinda, or Rajah Baguinda, was a prince from a Minangkabau kingdom in Sumatra, Indonesia called "Pagaruyung". (Baginda/Baguinda is a Minangkabau honorific for prince.) He was the leader of the forming polity in Sulu, Philippines, which later turned into the Sultanate of Sulu.
Baguinda Ali arrived to Buansa, Sulu on year 1390 CE, just ten years after the Sheikh Karim-ul Makhdum reached Sulu himself and brought Islam to the Philippines. Initially, the natives of Buansa were suspicious of him; they tried to sink his boats, to let him drown at sea. Baguinda Ali fought back (only in defence) and inquired to these people "why are you trying to drown me?" He insisted he came to Sulu out of travel and out of goodwill—to live among Sulu natives who, like him, were followers of Mohammad. The people of Sulu accepted his reasoning, and he eventually became one with the people. They even named him Rajah—Rajah Baguinda Ali. The preference of the people of Sulu to call him "Rajah" instead of "Sultan" connotes there was a pre-Islamic period in the history of the Sultanate of Sulu.
Raja (/ˈrɑːdʒɑː/; also spelled rajah, from Sanskrit राजा rājā-) is a term for a monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. Rana is practically equivalent, and the female form Rani (sometimes spelled ranee) applies equally to the wife of a raja or rana. Maharaja, or "great king" is in theory a title for more significant rulers in India, but after some inflation of titles over time, there is no clear difference between the terms.
The title has a long history in the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, being attested from the Rigveda, where a rājan- is a ruler, see for example the dāśarājñá, the "battle of ten kings".
Sanskrit rājan- is cognate to Latin rēx (genitive rēgis), Gaulish rīx, Gaelic rí (genitive ríg), etc., originally denoting heads of petty kingdoms and city states. It is believed to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European *h3rēǵs, a vrddhi formation to the root *h3reǵ- "to straighten, to order, to rule". The Sanskrit n-stem is secondary in the male title, apparently adapted from the female counterpart rājñī which also has an -n- suffix in related languages, compare Old Irish rígain and Latin regina. Cognates of the word Raja in other Indo-European languages include English reign and German reich. Rather common variants in Rajasthani, Marathi and Hindi, used for the same royal rank in parts of India include Rana, Rao, Raol, Rawal and Rawat.
Rajah may refer to:
The Circus of Crime is a fictional villainous organization appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
The Circus of Crime first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #3 (September 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
There were two organizations in the Old West who dubbed themselves the Circus of Crime. Both teams fought against Kid Colt.
Originally a spy organization employed by the Nazis during World War II, Tiboldt's Circus was a traveling circus led by Fritz Tiboldt, the Ringmaster, and he and his performers would use their special skills and talents to rob their audiences. He was sent to America to murder US Government officials using the cover of his circus activities. Tiboldt and his gang fell afoul of Captain America and were deported back to Germany, where Fritz Tiboldt and his wife were subsequently murdered by their former employers.
The modern day Circus of Crime first came to the authorities' attention when they carried out a series of robberies of small towns using the Ringmaster's skill in hypnotism to mesmerize entire towns. Regrettably for the Circus, Rick Jones was one of the victims of their capers, and his involvement led to the involvement of the Hulk, as Rick briefly had telepathic control over the Hulk. He resisted the Ringmaster's hypnotism when the Ringmaster tried to bill him as 'The Monster of the Age', leading to the Circus' arrest. After a brief stretch in prison, the Circus visited New York City, where they battled both Spider-Man and Daredevil. The Ringmaster was briefly able to hypnotise Spider-Man. The Circus' core members later briefly operated as the Masters of Menace, a name thought up by Princess Python, after being released from prison and throwing the Ringmaster off the team, replacing him with the Clown. They were again captured by Spider-Man.