Raja fought in the Burma campaign and qualified as a paratrooper, choosing to wear a parachutist badge throughout the rest of his career. Following the end of the war, he studied at a military staff college in India. In 1946 he was granted a regular Indian Army commission. Following India's independence in 1947, he was made commander of a battalion in the Indian Army. He commanded the 1st Battalion of the Madras Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.