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Encyclopedias since 1768

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Rajasthan ... Ramakrishna

Rajasthan: state of India. It is located in the northwestern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded on the west and northwest by Pakistan, on the north and northeast by the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, on the east ...
Rajasthan Steppe: desert in west-central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It has an area of about 54,800 square miles (142,000 square km). The region was ruled successively in ancient times by the Mauryas, Guptas, and Gurjar Pratiharas. Later it was ruled by Rajput ...
Rajasthani languages: group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken in the state of Rajasthan, India, and adjoining areas. There are four major groups: northeastern Mewati, southern Malvi, western Marwari, and east-central Jaipuri.
Rajasthani painting: the style of miniature painting that developed mainly in the independent Hindu states of Rajasthan in western India in the 16th-19th century. It evolved from Western Indian manuscript illustrations, though Mughal influence became evident in the later years of its ...
Rajasthani puppet: string marionette found in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India. It is controlled by one string that passes from the top of the puppet's head, over the manipulator's hand, and down to one shoulder and controls the body. The ...
Rajatarangini: (Sanskrit: "River of Kings"), historical chronicle of early India, written in Sanskrit verse by the Kashmir Brahman Kalhana in 1148; it is justifiably considered to be the best and most authentic work of its kind. It covers the entire span ...
Rajauri: town, in northwestern Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir state, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. It was referred to as Rajpuri in Kalhana's Rajatarangini (12th century AD). In the Pashtun intervention of 1947, almost the entire population of the ...
Rajavaliya: 17th-century historical chronicle of Sri Lanka, covering the history of the island from its legendary beginnings up to the accession of King Vimaladharmasurya II in 1687. It is the only continuous history of the island written in the Sinhalese language ...
Rajgarh: town, northwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India, situated between the Newaj and Parbati rivers. Founded in about 1640, it served as the capital of the former Rajgarh princely state, founded by Umat Rajputs (a warrior caste). The town is an ...
Rajgir Hills: physical region, central Bihar state, northeastern India, extending for 40 miles (65 km) in two parallel ridges that enclose a narrow ravine. At one point the hills rise to 1,272 feet (388 m), but in general they seldom exceed 1,000 ...
Rajkot: town, west-central Gujarat state, west-central India, near the centre of the Kathiawar Peninsula. The capital of the former princely state of Rajkot and of the former Western India States Agency, it is now an important commercial and industrial centre. Manufacture ...
rajm: (Arabic: "to stone," or "to curse"), in Islam, "casting of stones" at the devil during the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca, a pre-Islamic Arabian religious custom retained by the Prophet Muhammad. Historically, Muslim legalists did not agree on the number of ...
Rajmahal: historic town, east-central Bihar state, northeastern India. It lies west of the Ganges River. The town is located in the Rajmahal Hills, which run north-south for 120 miles (190 km) from the Ganges River almost to Dumka. They rise to ...
Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree: Indian spiritual leader who preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern mysticism, individual devotion, and sexual freedom while amassing vast personal wealth.
Rajput: (from Sanskrit raja-putra: "son of a king"), any of about 12,000,000 landowners organized in patrilineal clans and located mainly in central and northern India, especially in former Rajputana ("Land of the Rajputs"). The Rajputs regard themselves as descendants or members ...
Rajput painting: the art of the independent Hindu feudal states in India, as distinguished from the court art of the Mughal emperors. Whereas Mughal painting was contemporary in style, Rajput was traditional and romantic.
Rajputana: former group of princely states chiefly comprising what is now Rajasthan state, India. The name means "land of the Rajputs." The area, 132,559 square miles (343,328 square km), consisted of two geographic divisions: the area northwest of the Aravalli Range, ...
Rajshahi: city, west-central Bangladesh. It lies just north of the Padma (Ganges) River. Selected by the Dutch in the early 18th century as the site of a factory (trading post), it was constituted a municipality in 1876. Now an industrial centre, ...
Rakaia River: river in east-central South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Lyell and Ramsay glaciers of the Southern Alps near Whitcombe Pass. The river flows east and southeast for 90 miles (145 km) before entering Canterbury Bight of the Pacific ...
Rakoczi, Ferenc, I: scion of a noble Magyar family, and in 1670 a leader of an unsuccessful Hungarian-Croatian revolt against the Habsburgs.
Rakoczi, Ferenc, II: prince of Transylvania who headed a nearly successful national rising of all Hungary against the Habsburg empire.
Rakoczi, Gyorgy, I: prince of Transylvania from 1630, who, as a champion of Protestantism, fought for and won religious freedom in Hungary and made his principality virtually an independent state.
Rakoczi, Gyorgy, II: prince of Transylvania from 1648, who had the laws of the principality codified, but whose foreign policy led to the restoration of Turkish hegemony over Transylvania.
Rakosi, Matyas: Hungarian Communist ruler of Hungary from 1945 to 1956.
Rakovski, Georgi Sava: revolutionary leader and writer, an early and influential partisan of Bulgarian liberation from Ottoman Turkish rule.
Rakovsky, Khristian Georgiyevich: Bulgarian revolutionary who conducted subversive activities in Romania before joining the Russian Bolshevik Party and becoming a leading political figure in Soviet Russia.
rakshasa: in Hindu mythology, a type of demon or goblin. Rakshasas have the power to change their shape at will and appear as animals, as monsters, or in the case of the female demons, as beautiful women. They are most powerful ...
raku ware: Japanese lead-glazed earthenware, originally invented expressly for the tea ceremony in 16th-century Kyoto. Quite distinct from wares that preceded it, raku represents an attempt to arrive at a new kind of beauty by deliberate repudiation of existing forms. The shape ...
Raleigh: city, capital of North Carolina, and seat (1771) of Wake county, central North Carolina, U.S. It lies roughly 25 miles (40 km) southeast of both Chapel Hill and Durham, the three cities forming one of the state's major urban areas-the ...
Raleigh, Sir Walter: English adventurer and writer, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, who knighted him in 1585. Accused of treason by Elizabeth's successor, James I, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and eventually put to death.
Raleigh, Sir Walter: Scottish man of letters and critic who was a prominent figure at the University of Oxford in his time.
Rallidae: the rail family, a bird family that includes the species known as rail, coot, crake, and gallinule (qq.v.).
rally: automobile competition over a specified public route with a driver and navigator attempting to keep to a predetermined schedule between checkpoints. The course is generally unknown to contestants until the start of the rally. Such competition began in 1907 with ...
Rally for the Republic: former French political party formed by Jacques Chirac in 1976 that presumed to be heir to the traditions of Charles de Gaulle. It was the direct successor to the Gaullist coalitions, operating under various names over the years, that had ...
Ralov, Kirsten: Danish dancer, ballet teacher, and, from 1978 to 1988, associate artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet.
Ralph Of Coggeshall: English chronicler of the late 12th and early 13th centuries.
Ralston Purina Company: former American manufacturer of cereals, packaged foods, pet food, and livestock feed. A merger with Nestle in December 2001 created Nestle Purina PetCare Company.
ram: appurtenance fixed to the front end of a fighting vessel and designed to damage enemy ships when struck by it. It was possibly first developed by the Egyptians as early as 1200 BC, but its importance was most clearly emphasized ...
Ram Allah: town, central Palestine, adjacent to the town of Al-Birah (east) and north of Jerusalem. Ram Allah (Arabic: "Height of God") has since the Six-Day War of 1967 been under Israeli administration as part of the West Bank territory. An ancient ...
Ram Das: fourth Sikh Guru and founder of the great Sikh centre of Amritsar, now headquarters or capital of the religion.
Ram Raiya: member of a group of dissenters within Sikhism, a religion of India. The Ram Raiyas are descendants of Ram Rai, the eldest son of Guru Har Rai (1630-61), who was sent by his father as an emissary to the Mughal ...
Ram Singh: Sikh philosopher and reformer and the first Indian to use noncooperation and boycott of British merchandise and services as a political weapon.
Ram, Jagjivan: Indian politician and spokesman for the untouchables, the lowest caste in India.
Rama: one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, the embodiment of chivalry and virtue. Although there are three Ramas mentioned in Indian tradition (Parasurama, Balarama, and Ramacandra), the name is specifically associated with Ramacandra, the seventh incarnation (avatara) of Lord ...
Rama I: also called Phraphutthayotfa Chulalok Siamese king (1782-1809) and founder of the Chakkri dynasty (q.v.), which reigns in Thailand.
Rama II: also called Phraphutthaloetla Naphalai the second ruler (1809-24) of the present Chakkri dynasty, under whose rule relations were reopened with the West and Siam began a forward policy on the Malay peninsula. A gifted poet and dramatist, Rama II wrote ...
Rama III: also called Phranangklao king of Siam (1824-51) who made Siam's first tentative accommodations with the West, and under whom the country's boundaries reached their maximum extent.
Ramadan: in Islam, the holy month of fasting, the ninth month of the Muslim year, in which "the Qur'an was sent down as a guidance for the people" (Qur'an 2:185).
Ramadi, Al-: capital of Al-Anbar muhafazah (governorate), central Iraq. It lies on the Euphrates River just northwest of Lake Al-Habbaniyah. Ancient settlements existed in the vicinity, but Al-Ramadi was founded only in 1869 to encourage settlement by the nomadic ...
Ramadier, Paul: first premier (January-November 1947) of the Fourth Republic of France.
Ramakrishna: Hindu religious leader, founder of the school of religious thought that became the Ramakrishna order, and the best-known Hindu saint of the 19th century.