RADHA 1. Wife of Adhiratha and foster-mother of Karna. 2. The favourite mistress and consort of Krishna while he lived as Go-pala among the cowherds in Vrinda-vana. She was wife of Ayana-ghosa, a cowherd. Considered by some to be an incarnation of Lakshmi, an worshipped accordingly. Some have discovered a mystical character in Radha, and consider her as the type of the human soul drawn to the ineffable god, Krishna, or as that pure divine love to which the fickle lover returns.

RADHEYA A metronymic of Karna.

RADHIKA A diminutive and endearing form of the name Radha.  

RAGA (mas.), RAGINI (fem.) The Ragas are the musical modes or melodies personified, six or more in number, and the Raginis are their consorts.  

RAGHAVA Descendant of Raghu, a name of Rama.  

RAGHAVA-PANDAVIYA A modern poem by Kavi Raja, which is in high repute. It is an artificial work, which exhibits extraordinary ingenuity in the employment of words. As its name implies, the poem celebrates the actions of Raghava, i.e., Rama, the descendant of Raghu, and also those of the Pandava princes. It thus recounts at once in the same words the story of the Ramayana and that of the Maha-bharata; and the composition is so managed that the words may be understood as applying either to Rama or the Pandavas. It has been printed.  

RAGHAVA-VILASA A poem on the life of Rama by Viswa-natha, the author of the Sahitya-darpana.  

RAGHU A king of the Solar race. According to the Raghu-vansa, he was the son of Dilipa and great-grandfather of Rama, who from Raghu got the patronymic Raghava and the title Raghu-pati, chief of the race of Raghu. The authorities disagree as to the genealogy of Raghu, but all admit him to be an ancestor of Rama.

RAGHU-PATI See Raghu.  

RAGHU-VANSA ‘The race of Raghu.’ The name of a celebrated poem in nineteen cantos by Kali-dasa on the ancestry and life of Rama. It has been translated into Latin by Stenzler, and into English by Griffiths. There are other translations and many editions of the text. 

RAHU  Rahu and Ketu are in astronomy the ascending and descending nodes. Rahu is the cause of eclipses, and the term is used to designate the eclipse itself. He is also considered as one of the planets, as king of meteors, and as guardian of the south-west quarter. Mythologically Rahu is a Daitya who is supposed to seize the sun and moon and swallow them, thus obscuring their rays and causing eclipses. He was son of Vipra-chitti and Sinhika, and is called by his metronymic Sainhikeya. He had four arms, and his lower part ended in a tail. He was a great mischief-maker, and when the gods had produced the Amrita by churning the ocean, he assumed a disguise, and insinuating himself amongst them, drank some of it. The sun and moon detected him and informed Vishnu, who cut off his head and two of his arms, but, as he had secured immortality, his body was placed in the stellar sphere, the upper parts, represented by a dragon’s head, being the ascending node, and the lower parts, represented by a dragon’s tail, being Ketu the descending node. Rahu wreaks his vengeance on the sun and moon by occasionally swallowing them. The Vishnu Purana says, “Eight black horses draw the dusky chariot of Rahu, and once harnessed are attached to it for ever. On the Parvans (nodes, or lunar and solar eclipses) Rahu directs his course from the sun to the moon, and back again from the moon to the sun. The eight horses of the chariot of Ketu, swift as the wind, are of the dusky red colour of lac, or of the smoke of burning straw.” Rahu is called Abhra-pisacha, ‘the demon of the sky;’ Bharani-bhu, ‘born from the asterism Bharani;’ Graha, ‘the seizer;’ Kabandha, ‘the headless.’  

A sage who was the friend of Bharadwaja. He had two sons, Arvavasu and Paravasu. The latter, under the curse of Bharadwaja, killed his father, mistaking him for an antelope, as he was walking about at night covered with an antelope’s skin. Arvavasu retired into the forest to obtain by devotion a remission of his brother’s guilt. When he returned, Paravasu charged him with the crime, and he again retired to his devotions. These so pleased the gods that they drove away Paravasu and restored Raibhya to life. See Yava-krita.

RAIVATA 1. Son of Reva or Revata. Also called Kakudmin. He had a very lovely daughter named Revati, and not deeming any mortal worthy of her, he went to Brahma to consult him. At the command of that god he bestowed her upon Balarama. He was king of Anarta, and built the city of Kusasthali or Dwaraka in Gujarat, which he made his capital. 2. One of the Manus (the fifth).   

RAIVATA, RAIVATAKA The range that branches off from the western portion of the Vindhya towards the north, extending nearly to the Jumna.  

RAJA-GRIHA The capital of Magadha. Its site is still traceable in the hills between Patna and Gaya.  

RAJANYA A Vedic designation of the Kshatriya caste.  

RAJARSHI (Raja-rishi) A Rishi or saint of the regal caste; a Kshatriya who, through pure and holy life on earth has been raised as a saint or demigod to Indra’s heaven, as Viswa-mitra, Puru-ravas, &c. 

RAJA SEKHARA A dramatist who was the author of the dramas Viddha-Salabhanjika and Prachanda-Pandava. He was also the writer of Karpura-Manjari, a drama entirely in Prakriti. Another play, Bala-Ramayana, is attributed to him. He appears to have been the minister of some Rajput, and to have lived about the beginning of the twelfth century.

RAJA-SUYA ‘A royal sacrifice.’ A great sacrifice performed at the installation of a king, religious in its nature but political in its operation, because it implied that he who instituted the sacrifice was a supreme lord, a king over kings, and his tributary princes were required to be present at the rite.  

RAJA-TARANGINI A Sanskrit metrical history of Kashmir by Kalhana Pandit. It commences with the days of fable and comes down to the year 1027 A.D. The author probably lived about 1148 A.D. This is the only known work in Sanskrit which deserves the name of a history. The text has been printed in Calcutta. Troyer published the text with a French translation. Wilson and Lassen have analysed it, and Dr. Buhler has lately reviewed the work in the Indian Antiquary.  

RAJI A son of Ayus and father of 500 sons of great valour. In one of the chronic wars between the gods and the Asuras it was declared by Brahma that the victory should be gained by that side which Raji joined. The Asuras first sought him, and he undertook to aid them if they promised to make him their king on their victory being secured. They declined. The heavenly hosts repaired to him and undertook to make him their Indra. After the Asuras were defeated he became king of gods, and Indra paid him homage. When he returned to his own city, he left Indra as his deputy in heaven. On Raji’s death Indra refused to acknowledge the succession of his sons, and by the help of Brihaspati, who led them astray and effected their ruin, Indra recovered his sovereignty.  

RAKA A Rakshasi, wife of Visravas and mother of Khara and Surpa-nakha. 

RAKSHASAS Goblins or evil spirits. They are not all equally bad, but have been classified as of three sorts – one as a set of beings like the Yakshas, another as a sort of Titans or enemies of the gods, and lastly, in the common acceptation of the term, demons and fiends who haunt cemeteries, disturb sacrifices, harass devout men, animate dead bodies, devour human beings, and vex and afflict mankind in all sorts of ways. These last are the Rakshasas of whom Ravana was chief, and according to some authorities, they are descended, like Ravana himself, from the sage Pulastya. According to other authorities, they sprang from Brahma’s foot. The Vishnu Purana also makes them descendants of Kasyapa and Khasa, a daughter of Daksha, through their son Rakshas; and the Ramayana states that when Brahma created the waters, he formed certain beings to guard them who were called Rakshasas (from the root raksh, to guard, but the derivation from this root may have suggested the explanation), and the Vishnu Purana gives a somewhat similar derivation. It is thought that the Raksas of the epic poems were the rude barbarian races of India who were subdued by the Aryans.

        When Hanuman entered the city of Lanka to reconnoitre in the form of a cat, he saw that “the Rakshasas sleeping in the houses were of every shape and form. Some of them disgusted the eye, while some were beautiful to look upon. Some had long arms and frightful shapes; some were very fat and some were very lean: some were mere dwarfs and some were prodigiously tall. Some had only one eye and others only one ear. Some had monstrous bellies, hanging breasts, long projecting teeth, and crooked thighs’ whilst others were exceedingly beautiful to behold and clothed in great splendour. Some had two legs, some three legs, and some four legs. Some had the heads of serpents, some the heads of donkeys, some the heads of horses, and some the heads of elephants.” – (Ramayana).

        The Rakshas have a great many epithets descriptive of their characters and actions. They are called Anusaras, Asaras, and Hanushas, ‘killers or hurters;’ Ishti-pachas, ‘stealers of offerings;’ Sandhya-balas, ‘strong in twilight;’ Kashapatas, Naktancharas, Ratri-charas, and Samani-shadas, ‘night-walkers;’ Nri-jagdhas or Nri-chakshas, ‘cannibals;’ Palalas, Paladas, Palankashas, Kravyads, ‘carnivorous;’ Asra-pas, Asrik-pas, Kauna-pas, Kilala-pas, and Rakta-pas, ‘blood-drinkers;’ Dandasukas, ‘biters;’ Praghasas, ‘gluttons;’ Malina-mukhas, ‘black-faced;’ Karburas, &c. But many of these epithets are not reserved exclusively for Rakshasas.  

RAKSHASA-LOKA See Loka. 

RAKTA-VIJA An Asura whose combat with the goddess Chamunda (Devi) is celebrated in the Devi-mahatmya. Each drop of his blood as it fell on the ground produced a new Asura, but Chamunda put an end to this by drinking his blood and devouring his flesh.  

RAMA There are three Ramas: Parasu-rama, Rama-chandra, and Bala-rama; but it is to the second of these that the name is specially applied.