Raja

Raja (/ˈrÉ‘Ë?dÊ’É‘Ë?/; also spelled rajah, from Sanskrit राजा rÄ?jÄ?-) is a term for a monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. Rana is practically equivalent, and the female form Rani (sometimes spelled ranee) applies equally to the wife of a raja or rana. Maharaja, or "great king" is in theory a title for more significant rulers in India, but after some inflation of titles over time, there is no clear difference between the terms.

The title has a long history in the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, being attested from the Rigveda, where a rÄ?jan- is a ruler, see for example the dÄ?Å›arÄ?jñá, the "battle of ten kings".

Etymology

Sanskrit rÄ?jan- is cognate to Latin rÄ“x (genitive rÄ“gis), Gaulish rÄ«x, Gaelic rí (genitive ríg), etc., originally denoting heads of petty kingdoms and city states. It is believed to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European *h₃rēǵs, a vrddhi formation to the root *h₃reǵ- "to straighten, to order, to rule". The Sanskrit n-stem is secondary in the male title, apparently adapted from the female counterpart rÄ?jñī which also has an -n- suffix in related languages, compare Old Irish rígain and Latin regina. Cognates of the word Raja in other Indo-European languages include English reign and German reich. Rather common variants in Rajasthani, Marathi and Hindi, used for the same royal rank in parts of India include Rana, Rao, Raol, Rawal and Rawat.

Raja (play)

Raja (Bengali: রাজা), (also known as The King of the Dark Chamber in English translation), is a play by Rabindranath Tagore written in 1910. This play is marked as a symbolic play as well as a ‘mystic play’. The story is loosely borrowed from the Buddhist story of King Kush from MahÄ?vastu. A short stage version of Raja was published under the title of Arupratan in 1920.

Sen described Raja as ‘the first really symbolic drama by Tagore.’ The theme of the play is ‘the secret dealing of God with the human heart.

References

Raja (album)

Raja is the third studio album by Finnish thrash metal band Stam1na. It was released on 15 February 2008.

Track listing

External links