I've seen this discussion of 'fairness' in maharaja scattered around the boards for some time. I'd just like to point out that for the beginning player, white has one advantage simply in the mechanics of the program: The board will not -let- you place your maharaja in check. In short, you can, in a very short time, find all your choices for moves simply by running the mouse over all the squares. You only have one piece to move, and only one to worry about. Of course, that's countered by the fact that black only needs to check the moves for one piece, but for the inexperienced player, this can be quite an advantage. Black must check all his pieces to keep everyone guarded, -and- find a way to force an 'omnimovable' piece into check without causing a stalemate (draw). For a semi-deecent chess player, this isn't all that difficult, but it can be quite a challenge to the beginner.

I've a hunch the game might have originated with the intention of conditioning people to the challenges of fighting under seemingly hopeless odds.