Dictionary of Proper Names
Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)
R
Rangaswamy/ KVR/ R. Kodailam V. Rangaswamy Iyengar, the zamindar of Kodailam, who bore the cost of the book Yogic Sadhan, seems to have promised financial help again when he met Sri Aurobindo at Rāghavan House in Rue St. Louis (where Sri Aurobindo stayed from April 1911 to April 1913). It is very likely therefore that the money received by Sri Aurobindo in November 1912 & January 1913 came from Rangaswamy. Sri Aurobindo’s letter in 1916 to a Mr Appādurai mentions KVR as one of those who sent him money whenever he could.
Ramaswamy/ R. V. Rāmaswamy Iyengar, later known as Vā-Rā in the Tamil literary world, came from Tanjore to stay with Sri Aurobindo for some time; he returned to Tanjore in 1913. He used to meet Sri Aurobindo daily in the evening.
Rabelais François (c.1483-1553), French writer, physician, humanist; author of a comic & satirical masterpiece, Gargantua& Pantagruel.
Rachel King Herod, in whose reign Jesus was born, had many children killed hoping to kill Jesus among them. The Bible says that this was the fulfilment of an old prophecy: Rachel weeping for her children, / & would not be comforted, / Because they are not. (Mathew: 2.18, in King James’ Bible)
Racine Jean Baptiste (1639-99), French dramatist & poet, a master of tragedy.
Radha “personification of the absolute love for the Divine, total & integral in all parts of the being from the highest spiritual to the physical, bringing the absolute self-giving & total consecration of all the being & calling down into the body & the most material nature the supreme Ananda.” [SABCL 23:796]
Radhakrishnan Sarvapalli Rādhākrishnan (1888-1975); his public career began when Nehru appointed him the second Indian ambassador to the U.S.S.R. in 1949, in 1952 Nehru made him Vice President, & in 1962 President. K. M. Munshi writes that just as when Sardar Patel died in December 1950, Nehru ordered his ministers & secretaries not to attend the funeral in Bombay but President Rajendra Prasad went to the funeral; when Prasad died in 1963 in a Patna ashram, Nehru not only refused to change the schedule of his Rajasthan fundraising tour but also ordered President Rādhākrishnan against going. Once Rādhākrishnan (writes Durga Das) confided to those very near him, that Jawaharlal was a poor judge of men & often extended his confidence & protection to unworthy persons. He had in mind Pratap Singh Kairon & Dharma Teja; Kairon had to quit when a Commission of Inquiry pronounced him guilty of some of the numerous charges of corruption & maladministration levelled against him, & Teja who had wheedled out of Nehru a loan of Rs 200 million to finance his shipping company, ran into trouble & he & his wife fled the country. [Durga Das, India From Curzon to Nehru & After, p.376]
Ragh(o)u a king of the Sūryavanshi dynasty; son of king Dilip of Ayodhya. His descendants are known as Raghus of whom the most popularly known is his son king Dasharatha, the father of Rāmachandra, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu.
Raghunandan contemporary of Sri Chaitanya, popular as Smārta Bhattācharya. His Dharmashāstra shaped devout Bengali Hindus’ beliefs. [See Bharat Dharma Mahāmandala]
Raghuvamsha an epic poem in Sanskrit by Kālidāsa, containing nineteen cantos & based on the history of kings of the Ikshvākū family in general.
Rāhu counted as one of the navagrahas though not an astronomical body causes eclipses & meteors. He is usually paired with Ketu. Rāhu kāla, the period of time under his influence is considered inauspicious. As per Vedic astrology Rāhu & Ketu have an orbital cycle of 18 years & are always 180 degrees from each other orbitally as well as in astrological charts. This coincides with the processional orbit of moon or the 18-year rotational cycle of the ascending & descending lunar nodes on the earth’s ecliptic plane. Astronomically, Rāhu & Ketu denote the points of intersection of the paths of the Sun & the Moon as they move on the celestial sphere. Therefore, Rāhu & Ketu are respectively the north & the south lunar nodes. The fact that eclipses occur when the Sun & the Moon are at one of these points gives rise to the image of their swallowing of the Sun & the Moon.
Rai Rāyī, a popular form of Radha in Bihar’s Maithili-speaking people.
Raigurh the fortress built by Shivaji where he was anointed Chhatrapati in 1674.
Raikwa the sage in Chhandogya Upanishad who, when Janashruti came to him for spiritual knowledge, was sitting under a cart, & became known as Raikwa of the Cart.
Raja Rukmangad’s Ekādashi Rukmangad was a son of Shalya, king of Mādra. Ekādashi is the fast observed on the eleventh day after new-moon or full-moon.
Raj(a)suya Yajña performed by a Rāja after conquering or winning over fealty of neighbouring kings to announce himself a Chakravartin.
Rajayoga book in English by Swami Vivekananda with the subtitle Conquering the Internal Nature. The first part includes his lectures in New York; the second, his translation of Patanjali’s Yogasutras with a commentary.
Sirdar Rajmachikar & his brother who started an umbrella factory.
Rajput/ Rajpoot Sri Aurobindo: “The struggle between the Church & the monarchical State is one of the most important & vital features of the history of Europe. Had that conflict ended in an opposite result, the whole future of humanity would have been in jeopardy…. Even in India the people which first developed some national self-consciousness not of a predominantly spiritual character, were the Rajputs, especially of Mewār, to whom the Rajah was in every way the head of society & of the nation; & the people which having achieved national self-consciousness came nearest to achieving also organised political unity were the Sikhs for whom Guru Govind Singh deliberately devised a common secular & spiritual centre in the Khālsā, & the Mahrattas who not only established a secular head, representative of the conscious nation, but so secularised themselves that… the whole people indiscriminately, Brahmin & Shudra, became for a time potentially a people of soldiers, politicians & administrators”. [Ideal of Human Unity, s/a CWSA 2:256-59]
Rājputāna original Rājputāna lay in the north-western part of Bhāratavarsha on both sides of the Aravalli Range (see ‘India’). A large part of it was desert-area with meagre rainfall unequally distributed over the land. For centuries it was ruled by a few powerful dynasties of which the earliest were the Chālukyas & the Rāshṭrakūṭas, the Rāthods of Kanauj, the Chauhans of Ajmer, the Solankīs of Aṇhilwād Pātaṇ, the Guhilots or Sisodias of Mewād & the Kachchwahads of Jaipur. Over time, weakened by internal feuds they succumbed to the invading Mahommedans. Though attempts were made to throw off that yoke, whenever the Mahommedan rulers showed signs of weakness, the Rajputs as a race, failed to unite as one confederacy & benefit fully from the decline of the imperial Mughals in 1707 – as did the Marathas. Worse, they failed to realise that it was in their own interests to ally with the Marathas & prevent the Mahommedan & the British from destroying their common native culture & civilisation. Consequently, at the first opportunity the British partitioned their proud ancestral kingdoms into 23 ‘princely states’, one chiefdom & one estate which were to be ‘ruled’ [=heavily paid for] by them – except the area the named Ajmer-Mārwār kept directly under British bureaucracy – to keep its ‘boots’ on the ground. [Cf. Bhattacharya’s pp.763-64]
Rajsingh the Rāṇā of Mewār during the reigns of Shah Jahan & Aurangzeb. Like many Rajput kings who succumbed to Akbar’s ruse of forcing those he defeated to choose a Kshatriya’s death & enslavement of his family & kingdom to Moghul throne, Jashwant Singh the Rāthod Rājā of Mārwād had taken up the service of Shah Jahan but failed to subdue Aurangzeb who had revolted against Shah Jahan in 1658. When Jashwant Singh failed to defeat Shivaji, Aurangzeb, banished him to Jamrud at the mouth of the Khyber Pass to block the invading Afghans at whose hands he died on 10th Dec. 1678. When his ministers brought his only surviving son Ajīt Singh to Delhi for Aurangzeb to recognize him as his heir & successor, Aurangzeb sent his guards to kidnap the whole party to convert them & usurp Mārwād. In the Rāthod contingent guarding them was Durgādās, the warrior son of Askaran, a minister of Jashwant Singh. While the Rāthod warriors fell upon Aurangzeb’s kidnappers, Durgādās escaped with the queen & the prince along with their attendants & with forced rides brought them to their capital Jodhpur. In 1678, Mārwād forged an alliance with Mewār against Aurangzeb & its king Rajsingh gave protection to the queen & his son. The next year, Rajsingh, who had long been protesting against the barbaric Moghul imposition of jizyā, started a war against Aurangzeb & conducted it with such success that a treaty was signed in 1681 by which the demand for jizyā was dropped in exchange for some territories of Mewād. The previous year, 1680, when his third & favourite son Akbar whom he had sent to Chitore failed, Aurangzeb diverted him to attack Mārwād. But Akbar went over to the Rāthod side, hoping to enlist the help of the Rajput kings to attack Delhi & take over the Moghul Empire. Wily Aurangzeb prevented this catastrophe by inserting a wedge into this alliance but his ruse was discovered in time for Durgādās to smuggle the doomed Akbar through Khāndesh & Baglana to the court of the Peshwa hoping the Akbar would be given asylum there. But the cowardly Peshwa Shambhāji failed to rise to the occasion & lead the armies of Rajputs & Marathas to fight beside Akbar’s. Disappointed, Durgādās returned to Mārwād in 1687 & started a prolonged war with the Moghuls until they accepted Ajīt Singh as the rightful heir & he ascended the throne of Mārwād in 1709. Aurangzeb’s son Akbar meanwhile had escaped to Persia & died there in 1704 [cf. Bhattacharya’s 20-21, 131-32, 517, 760].
Rajsinha Bankim Chandra’s historical novel depicting Rajput heroism & Muslim oppression. He enlarged its 1st edition (1881), almost fourfold in its 4th edition (1893).
Raktabīj Asura who obtained the boon that every drop of his blood shed in battle would produce a clone of himself. He was finally killed when Chandi drank up every drop of his blood before it touched the ground.
Rām(a) 7th Avatar of Vishnu born as eldest son of King Dasharatha of Koshala: “When the divine Consciousness & Power, taking upon itself the human form & the human mode of action, possesses it not only by powers & magnitudes, by degrees & outward faces of itself but out of its eternal self-knowledge, when the Unborn knows itself & acts in the frame of the mental being & the appearance of birth, that is the height of the conditioned manifestation; it is the full & conscious descent of the Godhead, it is the Avatāra.” [SABCL Vol. 13, p.11]
Ram(a)das Samartha Rāmadās (1608-81) born on Rāmanavamī to Suryāji Pant & Rāṇubai who worshipped Surya Surya-vamshi Lord Rama, he was named Nārāyana Suryāji Thosar. His parents were Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin of Jamādagni Gōtra & lived in the village of Jamb in Jalna district of Mahārāshṭra, on the banks of Godāvari. His father’s death, when he was just eight, turned him into an introvert; at twelve he had the vision of Lord Rama who accepted him as his disciple & gave him the Ram Tārak Mantra for his daily Japa. Escaping the impending yoke of marriage he fled to the nearby woods & trekked to Nāshik where he got himself initiated in sanyāsa. In the stipulated 12-year tapasyā he concentrated on Lord Rama. The next twelve years, he travelled throughout India witnessing the frequent floods & famines, the massacres of unarmed Hindus by jihadis while cowardly Hindu lay & soldiers enslaving themselves to the Mohammedan pestilence. Based on these experiences he wrote Ᾱsmani Sultani & Parachakraniroopan. ― According to Panjab Sakhian, Rāmadās met Guru Hargobind at Srinagar in the Garhwal hills. The meeting, corroborated in the 1793 Marathi source Rāmadās Swami’s Bakhar by Hanumant Swami, probably took place in the early 1630s. “I had heard that you occupied the Guddi of Guru Nanak”, said Swami Rāmadās, “Guru Nanak was a Tyāgi sadhu, a saint who had renounced the world. You are wearing arms & keeping an army & horses. You allow yourself to be addressed as Sachcha Padshah, what sort of a saint are you?” Guru Hargobind replied, “Internally a hermit, & externally a prince. Arms mean protection to the poor & destruction of the tyrant. Baba Nanak had not renounced the world but had renounced Māyā, i.e. self & ego: Batan faquiri, zahir amiri, shastar garib ki rakhyā, jarwan ki bhakhiyā, Baba Nanak samsāra nahi tyāgā, Māyā tyāgi thi. These words of Guru Hargobind found a ready response in Rāmadās who, as quoted in Pothi Panjak Sakhian, spontaneously said, Yeh hamāre mun bhāti hai. Five days before his death at Sajjangadh (the fort of Parali which Shivaji had offered him), he ceased eating fruits & drinking water – a vow called Prayopaveshana, & continuously chanted the Tārak mantra Shrirām Jaya Rām, Jaya Jaya Rām, in front of the Lord’s Mūrti which was brought from Tanjore. His Samadhi was built by Shivaji’s son Shambhāji at Sajjangadh.
Rama Jamādagnya Parashurāma (Rāma of the Axe) son of Rishi Jamādagni.
Ramakrishna Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1 Feb. 1836-16 Aug. 1886). Sri Aurobindo received three crucial Akashic messages from him. In 1912, he wrote, “It was Ramakrishna who personally came & turned me to this Yoga.” [s/a Purani’s Life of Sri Aurobindo, 1958, p.64]
Ramakrishna Mission religious body founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 to spread the teaching of Sri Ramakrishna & to improve the social condition of Indians. Its headquarters is at Belur Math, Calcutta.
Rāmalingam (1823-74), poet-saint of South India; he developed an eclectic mystical philosophy & wrote Tamil prose of epic grandeur.
Ramamurti a modern Bhimsen, whose feats of physical prowess & endurance made him a celebrity. He is standing in the middle behind Sri Aurobindo & Tilak in the famous photograph of the Nationalist leaders in Surat. Sri Aurobindo gave a lecture on Rāmamurti at Poona on 12 January 1908.
Sir C.V. Raman Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1888-1970), recipient of 1930 Nobel Prize for physics, 1958 Lenin Prize for peace, & other international awards.
Ramana Maharshi Bhagawan Sri Ramaṇā (1879-1950) of Arunāchalam in Tiruvannamalai. “Among the popular pilgrimage centres in South India are the pancha-bhoota-lingam kshetra(s) representing the elements: Water at Jambukeshwara or Tiruvanaikkaval, Fire at Arunāchalam, Ether at Chidambaram, Earth at Kānchipūram, & Air at Kālahasti.” [Nāyanā by G. Krishna, Kāvyakantha Vasishtha Ganapatimuni Trust, Madras, 1978, p.41]
Rāmānuja(m) (c.1017- c.1137), leading opponent of Absolute Monism (Adwaita) taught by Shankarāchārya, he preached Vishistadvaita or Qualified Monism incorporating realities from Vishnu Purana to identify the Brahman in the Upanishads with Vishnu, thus providing a Vedic foundation to the Sri Vaishnavism.
Rāmatirtha Swami Rāmatirtha (1873-1906), known for the highly personal & poetic manner in which he illustrated the divine nature of man through Practical Vedanta.
Rāmdas (1884-1963), Vaishnava Bhakta of South India, a devotee of Rama. He established the Ananda Ashram in Kanhangad, Kerala. His wrote In quest of God followed by In the Vision of God.
Rameses Ramses or Ramesses, name of several kings of ancient Egypt of the XIX & XX dynasties; the most notable of them was Rameses II (1292-1225 BC).
Rāmprasād Rāma Prasād Sen (1718/23-75), Bengali poet-saint, a devotee of Mother Kali. He rendered the romantic story of Vidyā & Sundar.
Rāṇā Curran In 1893, when Sri Aurobindo joined Baroda State Service & had to learn Gujarati as one of the official languages, the only Gujarati historical novel was Karan Ghelo–the last Rajput King of Gujarat by Nanda Shankar T. Mehta, first published in 1866 (the third historical novel in an Indian language, the first two being Bankim Chandra’s Durgesh Nandini 1865, & Kapāla Kundalā 1866), & reprinted countless times. It deals with the historical Solanki-Vāghela king Rāi Karṇadeva II of Gujarat whose capital was Aṇhilwād Pātaṇ (not to be mixed up with Sōmanātha or Prabhāsa Pātaṇ). Aṇhilwād (now Siddhpur after Siddharāja Jaisingh) is c.87km NW of Idar & not far from Gujāria where Sri Aurobindo was first posted as an official of Baroda. Thus he was as fully aware of the historical background of Idar & its fortress as of the historical Bāppā Rāwal who began his reign from Idar, his father’s kingdom. Sri Aurobindo knew that in 1297, the armies of the Turkish-Afghān ‘Alā-ud-din Khalji Sultān of Delhi overran Gujarat, plundered it down to its bones, & carried away Queen Kamalā Devi to his Harem. King Karṇadeva escaped to Devagiri (q.v.). In Mehta’s Karan Ghelo, Karan the Besotted, when his prime minister was fighting a losing battle against Khalji’s hordes, Karan happened to catch a glimpse of the prime minister’s wife. And, when she rebuffed his advances, he sent his guards to kidnap her. Her brother-in-law & his men died trying to protect her. When word reached the prime minister, he withdrew from the battlefield (see Gujarat).
Ranade, Mahādev Govind (1842-1901), son of an officer of the Princely State of Kolhapur & a distinguished graduate of Elphinstone College, Bombay M.A., LLB: joined Govt. Education Dept.1866: Acting Prof. of English at Elphinstone College 1868-71: appointed Subordinate Judge of Poona 1871: in a speech delivered in 1874, dilated on the idea of responsible Govt. & suggested that the British Parliament should accept 18 Indian representatives to start with: Judge of Supreme Court Poona 1884: member Indian Finance Commission 1886: several times Member Legislative Council, Bombay: Judge of High Court Bombay 1893 up to his death. A Brahmo of the Prārthanā Samāj: in the forefront of many public movements in the Bombay Presidency. He was among those, who, having benefitted by the education introduced & systematised by Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1856) as Governor of Bombay Presidency (1819-27), became so impressed by the overall efficiency & superiority of the new rulers that the advent of British rule appeared to them to be a blessing in disguise, a Divine Dispensation. Contact with Britain enabled India to keep abreast of the modern world, & when in the next few centuries she would have outlived her mediaeval mode of life & thought, the British tradition of democracy & compromise would provide a peaceful parting of ways. This explains why Ranade forced the editor of Indu Prakāsh to stop publishing Sri Aurobindo’s “New Lamps for Old” series & advised him to take up jail reform. [Buckland; Karandikar; & other sources.]
Ranade, R.D. Rāmachandra Dattātreya Ranade (1886-1957) of Ferguson College, Poona, was a great scholar & philosopher. Afterwards he was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy & Vice-Chancellor of Allahabad University. He possessed, says Sri Aurobindo, “in a superlative degree the rare gift of easy & yet adequate exposition”.
Rand W.C. Rand, ICS, Collector of Poona, appointed Special Officer on plague duty in Poona in February 1897, was shot along with his military escort Lt. Ayerst, on 22 June 1897 at 7 p.m. while returning from the lively celebrations, held with due pomp & ceremony in the height of famine & plague ravaging the populace, at the Govt. House for the Diamond Jubilee of the Thrice-Blessed Queen-Empress Victoria – totally ignorant of the real India, knowing only the morsels of the surreal India her Govt.-controlled staff fed her. Rand & his sidekick were killed by the Chapekar brothers, Damodar Hari (1870-98), Balkrishna Hari (1873-99) & Vāsudev Hari (1879-99). Damodar was arrested on the basis of information given by Dravid brothers. They were hanged on the basis of just one point in Dāmodar’s detailed statement of 8 October 1897: Atrocities like the pollution of sacred places & the breaking of sanctified Murties by soldiers, in house searches deserve such a response. Charged under section 302 of the I.P.C. sentenced by a kangaroo court (a practice as old as 1857) & hanged, on 18 April 1898. Balkrishna absconded, but was betrayed by a false friend in January 1899. On 9th February 1899, the Dravid brothers were eliminated by Vāsudev, Mahādev Vināyaka Ranade, & Khando Vishnu Sathe, who were trapped when the cornered constable Rama Pandu the same evening. All were hanged in May: Vāsudev on 8th, Mahādev on 10th, & Balkrishna on 12th. Sathe a minor was sentenced to 10 years R.I. The summary executions inspired many youths to join revolutionary groups for getting rid of the worse-than-plague British oppression. A Bombay daily had commented, “Englishmen…have now experienced how one is wounded at heart when one’s casteman’s blood is shed.”
In autumn of 1896, a ship from China that anchored in Bombay turned out to be a carrier of bubonic plague – part of the global Third Plague Pandemic, it soon swept through the presidency killing 20,000. News of this outbreak spread like wild fire all over the country. Early in February 1897, the Infectious Diseases Act was placed on the Statute-book by the Govt. of India. Provincial Governments were thereby armed with supreme powers to enable them to eradicate the disease. By the end of February 1897, mortality rate had hit twice the so-called norm. On 8th March, Bombay’s Governor Sandhurst appointed a Special Plague Committee under the Chairmanship of W.C. Rand, ICS, with jurisdiction over Pune city, its suburbs, he put Pune cantonment under Rand & decreed Pune Municipality was to be Rand’s handmaiden. Though Sandhurst visited that very day & sought the co-operation of local leaders & advised Rand & Co. to respect public sentiment, Rand & his satellites were bent upon doing their will, he ignored the fact of Rand’s cruelty had made him odious at Wai. On 12 March 1897, 893 officers & men under a Major’s Paget’s command were imposed were placed on plague duty. Rand’s work began on 13 March & ended on 19 May, thereupon he declared the plague mortality was just 2091.
Plague accompanied by the famine that had been raging in most parts of the country since 1895, resulted in soaring prices of food grains & fodder, & looting. Agriculturists sold off cattle for a song & eager butchers & conversion-hungry missionaries exploited this calamity. Tilak revived the Sārvajanik Sabhā’s social activities as the Govt.’s Famine Code lacked the most essential code of conduct: the ignorance of the peasantry & the unwillingness of the subordinate Govt. officers to grant relief permissible under the Code appeared to him insurmountable barriers, obstructing the alleviation of public distress. He got the Code translated in Marathi for volunteers of the Sabhā to go into the districts to explain to the people their rights & duties under the circumstances by citing the relevant sections of the Famine Relief Code, e.g. demand work, not pay taxes due to lack of money, etc., & even harnessed Govt. machinery for widely distributing these booklets. British & loyalist Indian press maligned it as an Irish-type “no-rent campaign” incited by Tilak; Sandhurst promptly outlawed the Sabhā (see Gokhale).
The Plague Commission ordered the principal occupant of a house or a building to report all deaths & all illnesses suspected to be plague. Funerals were declared unlawful until the deaths were registered. The Committee had the right to mark special grounds for giving funeral to corpses suspected to have succumbed from plague, & prohibit use of any other place for the purpose. Disobedience of the orders would subject the offender to criminal prosecution. Tilak did not object to the threefold remedial measures proposed by Rand. Removal of patients to hospitals, removal of persons from the affected zone to the segregation camp & arrangements for disinfecting the houses & localities suspected of infection. When an exodus of the well-to-do started, he remarked that such vast numbers had not left Poona in panic even when the Holkar sacked the city. He deplored so-called leaders had deserted the poorer sections. In March the situation got worse. Though almost half the population had deserted the city in panic, the average daily mortality reached 60 in the 1st week & soared to 84 once during the next. The presence of vast numbers of soldiers struck terror in the citizens’ heart. “Even Mountstuart Elphinstone had not,” remarked Tilak caustically in his Kesari, “during his stay at the Poona Residency, such a huge body of soldiers at his command.” Public sentiment in Poona was piqued because the city had been singled out for the imposition of troops. The vagaries & harshness of the plague-administration only exasperated this wounded sentiment. A soldier could send a healthy man to the plague-hospital because he suspected him to have a temperature. Persons were taken exposed & naked to the segregation camp for fear that their infected clothes might spread infection in the camp. Old men & women, pregnant women, all without exception, were indiscriminately driven to the segregation camps, where proper arrangements for lodgings & feeding were not made. Rules empowered soldiers to burn clothes directly used by the patient. Enlarging the scope of the rule, soldiers did not hesitate to burn any article they laid hands on. In the course of house-searches, members of the search-party pocketed valuables. Tiny boxes, which were not at all likely to contain a dead body, were broken open & their contents pilfered. Tilak, who cooperated with Govt. in order that distress might be relieved, explained to Bombay they should consider the plight of the people. Neither Sandhurst nor Rand cared two hoots about toning down the rigours of the plague-administration in spite of the fall in the death-rate towards the end of April. Poona heaved a sigh of relief when early in May it was announced that the soldiers would leave.
In his report on the administration of the Pune plague, Rand wrote, “It is a matter of great satisfaction to the members of the Plague Committee that no credible complaint that the modesty of a woman had been intentionally insulted was made either to themselves or to the officers under whom the troops worked”. He also writes that closest watch was kept on the troops employed on plague duty & utmost consideration was shown for the customs & traditions of the people. A missionary, Rev. Robert P. Wilder, quoted in a contemporary New York Times article, asserted that the cause of plague was native practices such as going bare-foot, the distrust of the natives about the government segregation camps; further, that houses have been shut up with corpses inside, & search parties have been going around to unearth them. The same article included reported rumours that the plague has been caused by grain hoarded for twenty years by the banias or grocers being sold in the market, while others felt it was Queen Victoria's curse for the daubing of her statue with tar.
On 22 June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Victoria, Rand & his military escort Lt. Ayerst were shot while returning from the celebrations at Government House. Both died Ayerst on the spot & Rand of his wounds on 3 July. Govt. of Bombay announced a reward of Rs 2000 to those who would supply information leading to the arrest of persons responsible. Mr Brewin, a shrewd Secret Service Officer was transferred from Bombay to Poona. Mr Lamb, the Collector of Poona, waited for a few days. Finding that no public meeting to condemn the crime was convened by public leaders, himself convened a meeting of notables on 28th June. At this meeting he said that he had been “hoping & expecting that some expression of abhorrence of the terrible misdeed might reach him from the city of Poona” & referred to the existence in the city of “a secret band of sedition-mongers & instigators of murder”. Warning that there had been in a section of the Vernacular [vernae is Greek for slave] Press a vehement display of thinly veiled sedition, he held out the threat the Govt. was bent on unearthing secret bands, tracing culprits & their instigators & checking all mischievous influences & propensities. Tilak was arrested on 27th July 1897 under I.P.C. Sections 124-A & 153-A, for his articles in Kesari in connection with murders of Rand & Ayerst. [Based on S.L. Karandikar: 134; R.C. Majumdar et al, History & Culture of the Indian People, 1963, Vol. X, Part II: 521-2, 577; G. Sabharwal, The Indian Millennium: A.D.1000-2000, Penguin, 2000: 421, 423; S.V. Bāpat, Reminiscences & anecdotes of Lōk. Tilak, 1924: 50-51; Wiki: Chapekar Brothers]
Rangaswamy probably, K.V. Rangaswamy Iyengar, a zamindar of Kodailam, South India, a representative of the landlords in the Legislative Assembly at Delhi up to 1906. When his guru Nagai Japata was near his end he advised Rangaswamy to take Uttara Yogi (Yogi from the North) as his spiritual guide. A little after Sri Aurobindo’s arrival in Pondicherry, Rangaswamy met him three times & promised funds.
Ranjit Singh/ Runjit Singh (1780-1839), Maharaja of Punjab. He created a Sikh kingdom extending from Peshawar to the Sutlej & from Kashmir to Sind in the teeth of violent opposition from Afghans, English, & many co-religionists, earning the title of the Lion of Punjab. In 1808, invited by his short-sighted co-religionists, the Cis-Sutlej (i.e. east of Sutlej), Nabha, Jind & Patiala, the wily Octopus in the form of Gilbert Elliot Minto (1751-1814), Gov.-Gen. (1807-13), first offered to negotiate an offensive & defensive alliance with Ranjit Singh against the French who it claimed would invade Punjab through Persia. Ranjit Singh demanded acknowledgement of his sovereignty over all Sikh States in Cis-Sutlej as a price for this alliance. While the negotiations dragged on Napoleon was embroiled in the Peninsular War & England’s relations with Turkey had improved after the Treaty of Dardanelles in 1809, so Minto despatched an army to Punjab under David Ochterlony. Ranjit Singh’s army (like all armies of native rulers of the time) was perforce officered mostly by European mercenaries who promptly left ship. At Amritsar in April 1809, Ochterlony extracted a treaty from the defeated Ranjit Singh that reduced him to a figurehead (like all British treaties always did to native rulers) confined to the right side of the Sutlej. Then, as his ‘just reward’ appropriated the Cis-Sutlej states, under the pretext of imposing British protection. On 30th March 1849, Lord Dalhousie, unauthorised by E.I. Co., annexed Punjab, because: “However contrary to our past views & to our present views, annexation of Punjab is the most advantageous policy for us to pursue.” The unfortunate young Dalip Singh (Ranjit Singh’s grandson) had to rest content with a paltry pension of five lacs of rupees a year. Sent to England with his mother, he ultimately embraced Christianity & lived for a time as an English landowner in Norfolk. He subsequently came back to the Punjab & returned to his old faith but not to his old position. His mother died in London. [Glossary & Index…, 1989; Fatehsingh Rao’s Sayājirao..., 1989; Buckland; Columbia Ency., 1950; An Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar e al, 1973-1974:735-40]
Rape of the Lock is the most famous poem of Alexander Pope. A two-canto version appeared in 1712 & immediately made Pope famous as a poet. A long humorous poem in the classical style (likeness to ancient Greek & Roman writing); instead of treating the subject of heroic deeds, it was about the attempt of a young man to get a lock of hair from his beloved’s head. The revised version in five cantos appeared in 1714. A mock-epic, it satirises a high-society quarrel between Arabella Fermor (the ‘Belinda’ of the poem) & Lord Petre 7th Baron, who had snipped a lock of hair from her head without her permission. The satirical style is tempered, however, by a genuine & almost voyeuristic interest in the beau-monde (fashionable world) of 18th-century English society. The revised & extended version of the poem brought more clearly into focus its true subject – the onset of acquisitive individualism & a society of conspicuous consumers. In the world of the poem purchased artefacts displace human agency, & ‘trivial things’ assume dominance. The Rape was followed by Imitations of Horace (1733–38). These were written in the popular Augustan form of the “imitation” of a classical poet, not so much a translation of his works as an updating with contemporary references. Pope used the model of Horace to satirise life under George II, esp. what he regarded as the widespread corruption tainting the country under Walpole’s influence & the poor quality of the court’s artistic taste. Pope also added a wholly original poem, An Epistle to Doctor Arbuthnot, as an introduction to the “Imitations”. It reviews his own literary career & includes the famous portraits of Lord Hervey (“Sporus”) & Addison (“Atticus”).
Raphael Raffaello Santi (1483-1520), one of the masters of the Italian High Renaissance style. He was the youngest of the three great artists of the High Renaissance, the others being Leonardo & Michelangelo.
Rāshtra Mat a Marathi daily of Bombay, edited (c. 1904) by Haribhai Modak. The paper gained great popularity as the organ of the Nationalist Party led by Tilak, & was therefore suppressed under the Press Act of 1910.
Rasul Maulvi Abdur Rasul (1872-1917), a nationalist Muslim leader of Bengal under whose guidance the popular agitation against the Partition of Bengal spread like wild-fire all over Bengal & even far outside it.
Rathi/ Ruthie Rati, daughter of Daksha, wife of Kāmadeva.
Rathitara descendant of Nabhaga & son of Prishadashva.
Rāthore(s) more commonly Rāthod a Rajput clan belonging to the Sūrya Vamsha (q.v.) &, over the centuries conquered & ruled over several regions, mainly in north-western India i.e., all of Mārwād (western Rajasthan) & also parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, & Bihar (where some of them still reside). The most celebrated of the Rāthod warrior-kings are Chandrasen, one of the few Rajput kings who opposed Akbar; Amar Singh who, though he had accepted to be in the service of the Mughals, when insulted by Shah Jahan’s brother-in-law beheaded him in Shah Jahan’s court; & Durgādās, son of a minister of king Jashwant Singh who served the Mughals; upon the death of Jashwant Singh, Durgādās not only foiled Aurangzeb’s conspiracy to kill Jashwant’s queen & son & usurp the kingdom, but after a long & eventful war, freed Mārwād of the Moghul bacilli & crowned Jashwant’s son king [s/a Rajsingh].
Rāvana was one of the two chief dwara-pālas of Lord Vishnu who were cursed by Rishi Durvāsā to be born in Mrityuloka (the world of Death, our evolutionary earth) as they had stopped him from disturbing the Lord in his bedroom. They chose to be the Lord’s enemies on earth to be able remember Him constantly & gain mukti by being killed by Him. Rāvana, Kumbhakarṇa & Vibhīshaṇa were the sons of Rishi Vishravas by his second wife Kekasi, daughter of the Rākshasa who tricked him into marrying her. Vishravas’ first wife Ilavida’s only child was Kubera. Vishravas was the son of Rishi Pulastya, one of the first ten Prajāpatis. Rāvana’s intense tapasyā brought him great boons from Lord Brahma. Through his father Rāvana mastered all the Vedas & scriptures & through his mother & her brother the ambition & cunning of the Asura adept in all types of warfare & the hater of Vishnu – at the same time he became the second greatest devotee of Lord Shiva after Parashurāma. Rāvana married Mandōdari the daughter of Māyasūra. Her love & loyalty to her husband earned her the eternal place as one of the Pañcakanyāḥ (see Ahalyā).
Raja Ravivarma (1848-1906) being the scion of the loyal royal family of Travancore trained in English style of painting, he won gold medals & diplomas at International Art Exhibitions & had the resources to sway the popular Indian mind.
Ray, Charu Chandra (b.1867), professor & sub-director of Dupleix College, Chandernagore. In the searches at Manicktolla Garden & other places in Bengal in 1908, documents were found connecting Charu Chandra to the conspiracy. He was arrested, extradited from French India, & made to stand trial in the Alipore Bomb Case. But before judgment could be passed on him, his friends in the French Govt. provided him an alibi & applied pressure through diplomatic channels with the result that the case against him was withdrawn. He returned to Chandernagore in January 1909, promising the Govt. to eschew all politics; hence he refused to receive Sri Aurobindo when the latter came to Chandernagore.
Ray, Dr. P.C. Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944), first Palit Professor of Chemistry (1916-36) in Calcutta University. He inspired a generation of scholars & built up a modern chemical industry. In 1892 he founded the Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works. Simple, ascetic, & unassuming in personal life, he was rightly hailed by his countrymen as “Āchārya”.
Raymond Antonin Raymond, a Czech architect who had worked in Japan & U.S.A., & had collaborated with the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He came to the Sri Aurobindo's Ashram with his family in 1937 to work on the project of building Golconde, a residential building for Ashramites. He designed it with his assistant François Sammer (q.v.) while George Nakashima, master builder, constructed it.
Lord Reay Donald James Mackay (1839-1921): born in Netherlands: member of the 2nd Chamber of the State’s General, Netherlands 1871-5: naturalized in England by Act of Parliament 1877: a Liberal statesman, he was made a Peer of the U.K. 1881: Rector of St. Andrew’s 1884: Governor of Bombay (1885-90): Under Secretary of State for India 1894-5: Chairman of the London School Board, 1897, President of the Royal Asiatic Society. [Buckland] He was also a friend of Sayājirao & advised him to return to Baroda when the Bāpat Case (q.v.) got out of hand in 1894
Rebecca one of the heroines of Sir Walter Scott’s famous novel Ivanhoe.
Reddy, Sir Cattamanchi Rāmalingam educationist, scholar, poet & critic in Telugu. He held top-level educational responsibilities in Mysore, Madras & Andhra universities, & Baroda. A National Prize instituted in his name was presented to Sri Aurobindo at the Convocation of the Andhra University held on 11 December 1948.
Redmond John (Edward) (1856-1918), an Irish Nationalist Party leader who devoted his life to negotiating Home Rule for Ireland.
Rees John David (1854-1922): entered Madras Civil Service 1875: Private Secretary to three successive Governors of Madras, 1878-88; Govt. translator in Tamil, Telegu, Persian, & Urdu: Resident in Travancore & Cochin: Additional Member of the Viceroy’s Council (1895-1900): retired 1901; authored The Muhammedans, etc. [Buckland] ― In England, he was Liberal M.P. (1906-10) & Conservative M.P. (1912-22). In the Question Hour in Parliament on 5 August 1909 he asserted “…Govt. ought to display its power over Orientals by deporting Arabindo Ghose for his sway over the youth.” [Prof Manoj Das, First Decade of the Century, 1972] In 1910 he twice spoke in the House in favour of the sedition proceedings that had been instituted against Ghose. [P. Heehs’ A&R, April 1984, pp.84, 116]
The Reformation the religious revolution that took place in the Western Christian Church in the 16th century. Its greatest leaders were Martin Luther & John Calvin. Having far-reaching political, economic, & social effects, the Reformation became the basis of Protestantism, one of the three major branches of Christianity.
Reich The German Empire of 1871-1918 was often called the Second Reich; on the same reasoning Adolf Hitler referred to Nazi Germany as the Third Reich.
The (Reign of) Terror or “The Terror” denotes the first French Revolution from March or June or September, 1793 to July 1794, when the ruling faction ruthlessly executed persons of both sexes & all ages & conditions they regarded as dangerous. It ended with the fall of Robespierre, who is attributed this definition of Terror: “Terror is only justice: prompt, severe & inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.”
Reliques Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, anthology of ballads, sonnets, historical songs, & metrical romances published in 1765 by Thomas Percy. In each later edition new matter was added. It promoted revival of interest in the older English poetry.
Renaissance/ Renascence the revival of art & letters of Europe, under the influence of its classical models, which began in Italy in the 14th century & covered a period of roughly two hundred years in its history. That Renaissance spread from Italy to France, Spain, Germany, & northern Europe.
Renan, Ernest (1823-92), French historian & critic; best-known for his Life of Jesus.
Renoncants Indian residents of the French settlements in India, they could be full French citizens only after “renouncing their personal status under the Indian Law”.
Republic best known of Plato’s dialogues; there justice is discussed by Socrates & others, especially in the context of an ideal state.
Retaliation unfinished poem by Goldsmith – humorous critical epitaphs on David Garrick, Reynolds, Burke, & other friends responding to their epitaphs on him.
Revaty daughter of King Raiwata & wife of Balarāma.
Review of Reviews British magazine founded by W.T. Stead, published 1890-1936.
The Revolt of Islam a poem by P.B. Shelley. Originally published in December 1817 under the title Laon & Cythna in the form of a history of an ideal revolution in which the mistakes of the French Revolution were avoided. Later withdrawn, it was re-released as The Revolt of Islam in 1818.
Rhadamanthus king of Crete, son of Zeus & Europa. He was rewarded for his exemplary sense of justice by being made one of the three judges of Hades.
Rhesus a Thracian ally of Priam in the Trojan War.
Ribhus in Rig-Veda, Ribhū or Ribhukshan, Vibhū or Vibhva, & Vaja, the three sons of Sudhanwan (q.v.), are human powers who by the work of sacrifice & their brilliant ascension to the high dwelling-place of the Sun have attained to immortality &, becoming divinities, help mankind to repeat their achievement. They are divine craftsmen who shape by the mind Indra’s horses, the Ashwins’ chariot, the weapons of the Gods – all the means of the journey & the battle. The eldest of them is “the skilful Knower or the Shaper in knowledge”.
Richard (1) Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard III in Shakespeare’s Richard III; (2) a name mentioned in The Courtship of Miles Standish by Longfellow
Richard II (1367-1400), King of England (1377-99)
Richard II The Tragedie of Richard the Second, historical play by Shakespeare (first performed 1595/96) on the life & death of the king, but also giving prominence to his adversary Bolingbroke, later King Henry IV.
Richard III by Shakespeare, the background of which is the conflict between the rival houses of York & Lancaster, known as the Wars of the Roses. The play is dominated Richard, brother of the Yorkist king Edward IV.
Richard Feverel The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, a novel by George Meredith.
Richardson Samuel (1689-1761), English novelist, started the epistolary technique.
Richelieu Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et Duc de Richelieu (1585-1642), chief minister to King Louis XIII of France. Using both ecclesiastical & secular means, he built France’s hegemony & the secularization of politics in the Thirty Years’ War.
Richmond Henry, Earl of Richmond, later Henry VII, in Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Riddle of the Universe title of the English translation (first published in 1929) done by Joseph McCabe, of a German book (1899) written by Prof. Ernst Haeckel.
Rig-Veda/ Rig (Veda)/ the Rik(s)/ R.V./ RV. The first of the four Vedas. Two others, the Yajur & Sama, are merely different arrangements of its hymns for special purposes. The hymns of the Rig-Veda are addressed to the deities, at times, to the same deity under different names. To each hymn is prefixed the name of the Rishi to whom it was revealed. The ‘Samhita’ or text of the Rig-veda contains 1017 hymns (or 1028 if the “Balakhilam”, VIII-49 to 59, is included) divided into 10 mandalas or books.
The Riks a “brilliant & astonishing” work on the Veda by T. Paramasiva Aiyar (q.v.).
Riksha a Rishi of the Rig-Veda (8.68.15); his son is mentioned elsewhere as Arksa.
Rimbaud (Jean-Nicolas-) Arthur (1854-91), French poet & adventurer whose small poetic output had an incalculable influence on the Symbolist movement.
Lord Ripon George Frederick Samuel Robinson (1827-1909), succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of Ripon 1859: M.P. of Gladstone’s Labour Party in charge of Hull, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, W. Riding, 1852-9: Under Secretary for War (1859-61) & for India (1861-3): Secretary for War (1863-6) & for India (1866), Lord President of the Council 1868-73: made a Marquis 1871: as Viceroy of India in 1880-84, he first brought to end the costly 2nd Afghan War (started by his predecessor Lytton in 1878) in 1881 by recognising Abdur Rahman as Emir of Afghanistan & withdrawing the British armies & giving up Kandahar; introduced complete free trade retaining small duties on a very few articles like wines, spirits, & arms & ammunitions; lowered the salt tax; tried in vain to persuade the Home Govt. to abstain from increasing revenue of districts already surveyed except on the sole ground of a rise in prices; established in each tehsil (subdivision) of a local board of elected popular representatives (his version of panchayats) with power to administer funds that the local governments may place at their disposal for management of roads, watch & ward set-ups & such local needs; empowered popular district boards with charge of education, public works & duties; where municipal bodies existed he permitted them to elect their own chairman. Most importantly, he repealed Viceroy Lytton’s despotic Vernacular Press Act of 1878 permitting the Indian-language press the freedom enjoyed by the English-medium press; in 1881 he returned the administration of Mysore to its Maharaja subject to his supervision, passed an Act regulating the conditions of under-age employees in Indian factories & stipulating the steps to safeguard them from heavy machineries; in 1882, on the basis of the Report of the Hunter Commission he had appointed he expanded the extent of Western education system by increasing the number of Govt.-run primary & secondary schools. His attempt in 1881 to reform the injustice against natives arraigned in British courts, by proposing what became known as the Ilbert Bill (q.v.) cut short his illustrious his rule in 1884. He was recalled by his bosses in Whitehall for doing more for the natives than official policy, British India’s bureaucracy & European leeches could stomach & given the innocuous posts of First Lord of the Admiralty & Secretary for Colonies. However, his proposals in Ilbert Bill increased his already unprecedented popularity among natives whose leaders presented him with hundreds of grateful addresses & his journey from Shimla to Bombay resembled a triumphal processions. [Buckland; Bhattacharya; S. Gopal’s The Viceroyalty of Lord Ripon, W.S. Blunt’s India under Ripon; s/a Lālā Lajpat Rai’s Young India, published by Jagan Nath, Servants of the People Society, Lahore, 4th Reprint 1927]
Rip Van Winkle hero of Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle (1819-20). The story is based on a legend of Catskill Mountains about a man who slept for twenty years.
Rishabha a Rākshasa in the form of a bull, he was slain by Bṛihadratha of the Mahabharata period who built the Magadhan empire [see SABCL 3:190-91].
Rishabha Vaishwamitra son of Vishwāmitra, mentioned in Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.
Risley, Sir Herbert Herbert Hope (1851-1911): admitted to ICS & posted in Bengal 1873: Secretary, Govt. of Bengal 1891: Member Legislative Council 1892-3: acting Financial Secretary, Govt. of India 1898; Census Commissioner 1899-1902: compiled the Report of 1901; Home Secretary, Govt. of India 1902-09: suggested partitioning Bengal December 1903 as “Bengal united is a power. Bengal divided will pull several different ways. This is perfectly true & is one of the great merits of the scheme” but gained greater notoriety for his education circular of 1907: authored Primitive Marriage in Bengal; Widow & Infant Marriage; Tribes & Castes of Bengal; Anthropometric India, wrote the Preface to the Sikhism Gazetteer 1892. [Buckland; etc.]
Risley Circular issued in 1907 by Sir Herbert Risley to root out Bengal’s Swadeshi movement & cut it away from students enrolled in Govt. establishments.
Robespierre Maximilien-Francois-Marie-Isidore de Robespierre (1758-94; Jacobin leader & one of the leading figures of French Revolution & author of the Reign of Terror which finally led to his being guillotined by the wild demos he had let loose.
Rodin,Auguste (1840-1917), French sculptor revered as new Michelangelo.
Rohinie (1) daughter of Prajāpati Daksha; wife of Chandra (q.v.), & the Nakshatra, the fourth lunar constellation. (2) Wife of Vāsudeva & mother of Balarāma.
Le Roi s’amuse play (1832) by Victor Hugo.
Rolland, Romain (1866-1944), French novelist, playwright, essayist, biographer; known for his novel Jean-Christophe; awarded 1915 Nobel Prize for literature. Sri Aurobindo: I have heard about [Rolland’s book on Gandhi] & seen it. These European writers & thinkers I have found airy, wandering in their thought. I found another error in his book which is common to all European thinkers: it is about the Indian Spirit. He traces the influence of Buddha & Mahāvira to Gandhi; & for the European thinkers that is the whole of the Indian Spirit! ... Formerly, Rolland never thought about Asia; he was busy with his European unity & European culture etc. [Purani, p.308-09]
Romains, Jules Louis-Henri-Jean Farigoule (1885-1972), French novelist, dramatist, & poet, founder of the literary movement known as Unanimisme, & author of Knock (a comedy) & Les hommes de bonne volonté.
The Roman Catholic Church headed by the Pope (Bishop of Rome), it traces its origin to the Apostles of Jesus Christ in the 1st century.
Roodhra or Rudra is the Vedic prototype of the Puranic Shiva.
Rosalind daughter of the banished Duke in Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It.
Rosamund Rosamond Clifford (c. 1140c. 1176), a mistress of Henry II of England, who was known as “Fair Rosamond”. The best-known stories tell how Queen Eleanor murdered Rosamond by poison, stabbing, or beheading.
The Rosciad poem (1761) by Charles Churchill.
Rosebery Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929), Earl Rosebery, Prime Minister (1894-95).
Rosicrucian member of a brotherhood possessing esoteric wisdom. Rosicrucianism combines elements of occultism with a variety of religious beliefs & practices.
Rossetti Dante Gabriel (1828-82), English poet, painter, founder of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood devoted to “truth to nature” & romanticizing the Middle Ages.
Rh Rudolf von Röth (1821-95), educated at Tübingen under Heinrich Ewald: studied at Paris under Burnouf: worked on Vedic & Zend Avestan Mss in England: published treatises on the Vedas at Tübingen 1846: with Böhtlingk created a Vedic Sanskrit Dictionary for the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg 1855-75: founded Vedic philology: edited Atharva Veda: catalogued Sanskrit Mss in Univ. Library of Tübingen 1865: wrote in Orientalist journals on Vedas, Indian Medicine, Avesta & Religions. With other Orientalists compiled the 7-vol Sanskrit-German Thesaurus. [Buckland’s Dict.; s/a European Enlightenment]
Rouen on the Seine; Joan of Arc, imprisoned here in a tower, was burnt here at the stake on the Place du Vieux Marche in May 1431 by English clergy.
Rousseau Jean-Jacques (1712-78), his treatises & novels inspired leaders of the French Revolution & Romantic generation: Kant, Goethe, Robespierre, Pestalozzi, & Tolstoy were his disciples.
Roy, Ananda Chandra/ Ananda Babu (1844-1935) of the Dacca Bar, he was a leader in the anti-Partition movement of 1905-06 & the Swadeshi movement.
Roy, Dinendra Kumar stayed with Sri Aurobindo at Baroda in 1898-99 solely to familiarise him with the Bengali language. In 1923, he published his reminiscences of these days in Bengali in a booklet he titled Aravinda Prasange (q.v.) This booklet was first translated by Prof. Sanat Kumar Banerji as part of his series “Glimpses of Sri Aurobindo”, published in Mother India Dec, 1959 onwards. (Prof SKB, an ex-ICS & former Indian Commissioner at Pondicherry, taught Indian History to senior students of the Ashram School.)
Roy, Dwijendralal (1863-1913), a playwright, he wrote a variety of plays: musical, historical, devotional, comic, & romantic etc. Being a government servant, he indirectly helped the national cause by writing patriotic songs & plays.
Roy, P.C. Perhaps Pratap Chandra Rai (or Roi) (1841-95), who, over twelve years brought out an English translation of Mahabharata in 11 volumes. The translation was done by his friend Kishori Mohan Ganguly. Pratap Chandra devoted all his time, energy, & resources to its publication which was completed only after his death.
Roy, (Raja) Rammohan (1772-1833): son of Rāmākānta Roy, manager of some estates of the Maharaja of Burdwan: studied Persian & Arabic at Patna & Sanskrit at Benares in which he was particularly well-versed: at 15 published his first famous work on Idolatry in Bengali contending that the popular religion of the Hindus was contrary to the practice of their ancestors & the doctrine of the ancient authorities: incurred his father’s displeasure & was turned out of the house: wandered for 4 years even to Tibet: readmitted by his mother on his father’s death: at 21 he studied of English, French, Latin, Greek & Hebrew: employed in the Collectorate at Rangpur: rose to be Sarishtadār, but retired 1813: commenced a crusade against popular religion: translated Vedanta, Vedantasāra & Upanishads in Bengali & later in English: studied Koran in Arabic, Old Testament in Hebrew & New Testament in Greek: in 1820 published Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace & Happiness in Sanskrit & Bengali in which he denied the Divinity of Christ. This brought him into controversy with the Serampur Missionaries & on their refusal to print his Final Appeal he established a press of his own: Dr Marshman [see Friend of India, Statesman] answered him, & the publications attracted considerable attention in England & America: Rammohan soon after founded a periodical called The Brāhmaṇical Magazine, with the object of defending the religious books of the Hindus & formed a religious association called the Atmya Sabhā & in 1828 founded the Brahmo Samāj “for worship & adoration of the Eternal, Unsearchable, Immutable Being, who is the Author & Preserver of the Universe.” The objects of the new Church were described in the trust-deed of 1830. This new Theism aimed at “the calm worship of the Deity, the practice of virtue & charity, reverence for all that sincere & helpful in every faith, & active participation in every movement for the bettering of mankind.” He claimed to have established a pure monotheistic form of worship for the benefit of Hindus, Muhammadans & Christians. As a social reformer he preached against Sati, polygamy & Kulinism, & advocate remarriage of widows. In 1830, he received the title of Raja from the ex-Emperor of Delhi, & was deputed by him to visit England, to advocate certain claims. There, as a republican in his politics, he was well received by the reforming liberals & advanced thinkers. Max Müller, Monier Williams, the poet Campbell, Brougham & Bentham befriended him. In 1833, on the invitation of Dr. Carpenter he went to live at Bristol & while meditating a voyage to America died of fever at Stapleton Grove on Sep.27, 1833. He was the founder of the Hindu College,
Calcutta, in 1817, & in 1823 addressed a letter to Lord Amherst (1773-1857) Gov.-General (1823-28) on the comparative merits of English & Sanskrit education. [Buckland]
Roy, Sasankajiban attended Bengal Provincial Conference at Hooghly in September 1909, he seconded the resolution regarding boycott of foreign goods.
Roy Chaudhury, Girijā Shankar (1885-1965) published hypercritical articles on Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, & Sister Nivedita.
Rubaiyat The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Omar Khayyam exalting sensual pleasure, translated into English by Edward FitzGerald & first published in 1859.
Rudra(s) Rudra is Vedic Shiva; the Rudras are also identified with the Maruts.
Ruins of Rome a didactic poem by John Dyer.
Rukminie/ Rookminnie daughter of Bhishmaka, king of Vidarbha. She married Sri Krishna & gave birth to Pradyumna.
Runnymede meadow in Surrey, on the south bank of Thames, 20 miles west of London. Here in 1215, King John granted the Magna C(h)arta, the most important instrument of English constitutional history, under the compulsions of his barons.
Ruru/ Ruaru grandson of Maharshi Chyavana & son of Pramati, born of an Apsarā named Ghritasi. The story of Ruru & his wife Pramadvara is told in the Mahabharata.
Ruskin John (1819-1900), English author & critic who championed Gothic Revival in architecture & decorative arts & influenced public taste in art in Victorian England.
Russell, Bertrand Bertrand Arthur William (1872-1970), logician & philosopher.
Ruth in Old Testament, a Moabite widow. Her fidelity to her Jewish mother-in-law (Naomi) is told in a little story. The idyll is one of the popular of scriptural stories.