Chapter RADAREE to RAJPOOT of R by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

RADAREE to RAJPOOT

RADAREE, s. P.—H. rah-dari, from rah-dar, ‘road-keeper.’ A transit duty; sometimes ‘black-mail.’ [Rah- dari is very commonly employed in the sense of sending prisoners, &c., by escort from one police post to another, as along the Grand Trunk road].

1620.—“Fra Nicolo Ruigiola Francescano genovese, il quale, passagiero, che d’India andava in Italia, partito alcuni giorni prima da Ispahan…poco di qua lontano era stato trattenuto dai rahdari, o custodi delle strade….”—P. della Valle, ii. 99.

1622.—“At the garden Pelengon we found a rahdar or guardian of the road, who was also the chief over certain other rahdari, who are usually posted in another place 2 leagues further on.”—Ibid. ii. 285.

1623.—“For Rahdars, the Khan has given them a firman to free them, also firmans for a house….”—Sainsbury, iii. p. 163.

[1667.—“…that the goods…may not be stopped…on pretence of taking Rhadaryes, or other dutyes….”—Phirmaan of Shaw Orung Zeeb, in Forrest, Bombay Letters, Home Series, i. 213.]

1673.—“This great officer, or Farmer of the Emperor’s Custom (the Shawbunder [see SHABUNDER]), is obliged on the Roads to provide for the safe travelling for Merchants by a constant Watch…for which Rhadorage, or high Imposts, are allowed by the Merchants, both at Landing and in their passage inland.”—Fryer, 222.

1685.—“Here we were forced to compound with the Rattaree men, for ye Dutys on our goods.”—Hedges, Diary, Dec. 15; [Hak. Soc. i. 213. In i. 100, Rawdarrie].

c. 1731.—“Nizámu- l Mulk…thus got rid of…the ráhdárí from which latter impost great annoyance had fallen upon travellers and traders.”—Kháfi Khán, in Elliot, vii. 531.

[1744.—“Passing the river Kizilazan we ascended the mountains by the Rahdar (a Persian toll) of Noglabar….”—Hanway, i. 226.]

RAGGY, s. Ragi (the word seems to be Dec. Hindustani, [and is derived from Skt. raga, ‘red,’ on account of the colour of the grain]. A kind of grain, Eleusine Coracana, Gaertn.; Cynosurus Coracanus, Linn.; largely cultivated, as a staple of food, in Southern India.

1792.—“The season for sowing raggy, rice, and bajera from the end of June to the end of August.”—Life of T. Munro, iii. 92.

1793.—“The Mahratta supplies consisting chiefly of Raggy, a coarse grain, which grows in more abundance than any other in the Mysore Country, it became necessary to serve it out to the troops, giving rice only to the sick.”—Dirom, 10.

[1800.—“The Deccany Mussulmans call it Ragy. In the Tamil language it is called Kevir (kezhvaragu).”—Buchanan, Mysore, i. 100.]

RAINS, THE, s. The common Anglo-Indian colloquial for the Indian rainy season. The same idiom, as chuvas, had been already in use by the Portuguese. (See WINTER).

c. 1666.—“Lastly, I have imagined that if in Delhi, for example, the Rains come from the East, it may yet be that the Seas which are Southerly to it are the origin of them, but that they are forced by reason of some Mountains…to turn aside and discharge themselves another way….”—Bernier, E.T., 138; [ed. Constable, 433].

1707.—“We are heartily sorry that the Rains have been so very unhealthy with you.”—Letter in Orme’s Fragments.

1750.—“The Rains…setting in with great violence, overflowed the whole country.”—Orme, Hist., ed. 1803, i. 153.

1868.—“The place is pretty, and although it is ‘the Rains,’ there is scarcely any day when we cannot get out.”—Bp. Milman, in Memoir, p. 67.

[RAIS, s. Ar. ra’is, from ra’s, ‘the head,’ in Ar. meaning ‘the captain, or master, not the owner of a ship;’ in India it generally means ‘a native gentleman of respectable position.’

1610.—“…Reyses of all our Nauyes.”—Birdwood, First Letter Book, 435.

1785.—“…their chief (more worthless in truth than a horsekeeper).” In note—“In the original the word syse is introduced for the sake of a jingle with the word Ryse (a chief or leader).”—Tippoo’s Letters, 18.

1870.—“Raees.” See under RYOT.

1900.—“The petition was signed by representative landlords, raises.”—Pioneer Mail, April 13.]

RAJA, RAJAH, s. Skt. raja, ‘king.’ The word is still used in this sense, but titles have a tendency to degenerate, and this one is applied to many humbler dignitaries, petty chiefs, or large Zemindars. It is also now a title of nobility conferred by the British Government, as it was by their Mahommedan predecessors, on Hindus, as Nawab is upon Moslem. Rai, Rao, Rana, Rawal, Raya (in S. India), are other forms which the word has taken in vernacular dialects or particular applications. The word spread with Hindu civilisation to the eastward, and survives in the titles of Indo-Chinese sovereigns, and in those of Malay