Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/277

Rh R A J R A J 259 above the sea, and all attempts to cultivate sultanas in other raisin -growing localities have failed, the grapes quickly reverting to a seed -bearing character. The dried fruit has a fine golden-yellow colour, with a thin, delicate, translucent skin and a sweet aromatic flavour. A very fine seedless oblong raisin of the sultana type with a brownish skin is cultivated in the neighbourhood of Damascus, but it is rarely seen in the Western markets. Raisins are chiefly valuable on account of the large proportion of grape sugar and cream of tartar which they contain. In old dry raisins these substances are found in hard nodular masses. The seeds contain from 15 to 18 per cent, of a bland fixed oil and about 5 per cent, of tannin. The imports into the United Kingdom average in value about 1,000,000 yearly, the quantity imported in 1883 having been 588,309 cwt, valued at 1,057,934. RAJA (English form RAJAH), Sanskrit nom. sing, of the stem rajan (in modern Indian vernaculars rdjd, rdjah, raja, rdjan, rdzu, irdsen, also the forms rdi, rdo, rand are trace- able to the same stem) = king, prince, chief, from the root raj, to be resplendent. In the oldest times the headman of any petty tribe was called raj A from the fact of his being conspicuous for the number of golden ornaments with which he was decked out. Then rajd became the com- mon designation for a king, whether of a small tribe or of a large state. The constitution of all states was monarch- ical, mostly hereditary, occasionally also electoral, but in no case absolute, for the people had a voice in the govern- ment. On the other hand, the king was greatly hampered in his action by his duties towards the priestly caste. Even in that later stage of Indian civilization which we find portrayed in the code of Manu the king appears as subordinate to the priest, though his prerogative is in all other respects paramount, especially in the matter of revenue. Theoretically this system has been continued ever since ; but practically the raja's powers have been gradually extended, some of them being distributed by him at his pleasure among various officials, who were rewarded, not by regular salaries, but by grants and the profits of oppression. 1 It thus appears that the title is, strictly speaking, only applicable to Hindu potentates, but in practice it is not unfrequently used to indicate a ruling chief irrespective of his nationality or creed. The rights and privileges assigned to rajas by treaty and usage are manifold and varied. But all rajas are precluded from waging war against an external foe save with the permission of the British Government, and so none can be said to be independent in the fullest sense of the word. At the same time there are several princes in India who titularly hold that status, in so far, that is, as they possess the right to administer their kingdom according to their own notions of justice and equity ; but even in these instances, and they are few, British residents are attached to the various courts, charged to advise in the interests of good government and righteous dealing. Such officers seldom fail to secure a powerful influence, and it is not often that their counsel is disregarded or their representations pass unheeded. More than this, when flagrant injustice occurs the British Government is occasionally compelled to interfere, and instances are not wanting when a rajA has been deposed, notwithstanding a clause in his treaty forbidding the intervention of the British Government in the affairs of his state. Such cases, which are not frequent, are justified by political necessity. In many instances native chiefs are allowed by treaty to maintain a military force, but at the present time the troops principally serve to gratify the cravings of Eastern potentates for the outward and visible signs of power. Rajas of lesser note retain a semblance of power so far 1 See for the Vedic period, H. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879, p. 162 sq. ; for later times, M. Duncker, Geschichte des Alter - thums, iii. 152 sq., and Tod's Antiquities of Rajasthan, passim. as concerns questions of minor importance, but in grave cases involving issues of life and death the officer attached to the court reviews and, should it be necessary, modifies or reverses the decrees which may be passed.. Chieftains in this category do not even enjoy the appearance of inde- pendence, though in many instances they are allowed to keep a body of military retainers. Other rajas are merely large and wealthy landholders with no sovereign rights or privileges, resembling in many respects the territorial magnates of Great Britain ; while in some instances the term is simply a title of distinction unconnected with the possession of land or power. Scarcely less complex and varied are the conditions which regulate succession to the raj ships of India : in some instances adoption is admitted, in other cases col- lateral succession is accepted, while again there are occa- sions when the customs of the family are a potent factor in the choice of an heir. It might have been supposed perhaps that the salute could be fairly taken as indicative of the status of the chief to whom it is assigned ; but in reality such an assumption would be most misleading, for not unfrequently the number of guns was fixed in bygone years, and the lapse of time has made numerous and essential changes in the status of the various chieftains. So much is this the case that it has never been settled authoritatively what chiefs are entitled to claim the Western prefix of " highness." RAJAMAHENDRI (Rajamahendravaram, Rajahmun- dry), a town of India, in the Godavari district, Madras presidency, situated on high ground on the left bank of the Godavari river in 17 N. lat. and 81 49' E. long., and 365 miles north-east of Madras. Its population in 1881 numbered 24,555 (males 12,290, females 12,265). Rajamahendri was formerly the headquarters of a separate district of the same name, but is now incorporated with Godavari. Tradition divides the merit of founding this city between the Orissa and Chalukya princes. There appears little doubt that the city of the Vengi kings was identical with the site of the present town, and that this also was the seat of the Orissa power in the south. In 1471 Rajamahendri was wrested from Orissa by the Mohammedans, but early in the 16th century it was retaken by Krishna Raja and restored to Orissa. It continued under Hindu rule till 1572, when it yielded to the Moslems of the Deccan under Rafat Khan. For the next century and a half it was the scene of perpetual fighting, and at last fell to Golconda, and became one of the four nawabships of that government. Rajamahendri passed into the possession of the French in 1753, but they were driven out by the British under Colonel Forde in 1758. The French, however, recaptured it, but, finding that the treasure had been removed, they evacuated it almost immediately. RAJPUTANA, an immense tract of country in India, consisting of twenty states, having each its own autonomy and separate chief, besides the small British division of Ajmere, which is situated almost in the centre 'of the province. These territories lie between 23 and 30 N". lat. and between 69 30' and 78 15' E. long., and their combined area is approximately estimated at 130,000 square miles. Rajputana extends from the province of Sind on the west to the North- Western Provinces on the east, skirting the Bombay presidency on the south, and stretching to the Punjab on the north. It is traversed from south-west to north-east by the Rajputana State Railway, and from the south to that railway at Ajmere by the Malwa Railway from Khandwa on the Great Indian Peninsula line through Indore. The country is divided by the Aravalli Mountains into two unequal parts (of which the north-western is much the "larger), and consists to a great extent of sandy, arid, and unproductive wastes, but it improves gradually to comparatively habitable and fertile tracts towards the north-east. This division includes the Thur or great sandy desert of northern India, covered everywhere by long parallel dunes, varying from 50 to 100