The Raju are a
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
caste found mostly in the Indian state of
Andhra Pradesh.
Varna Status
The Raju caste, which A. Satyanarayana calls the "locally dominant landed gentry", claims
Kshatriya status in the
varna
Varna may refer to:
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**Varna Province
**Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
**Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
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*Varniai, a city in Lithuania
* Varna (Šaba ...
system despite there being "no real Kshatriya varna" in the Andhra region.
''Raju'' is a
Telugu language variant of the
Sanskrit title ''
Raja'', a term for a monarch or princely ruler. Cynthia Talbot describes the term as being:
In medieval Andhra Pradesh, the title was used in both senses, and was very likely adopted by some secular
Brahmins, who occupied important advisory functions. The royal usage at that time was particularly prevalent in the northern coastal areas of the region. Talbot also notes that the title, and others in use at that time, do not align with the
Vedic four-fold varna system and in that sense could not refer to a
caste
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
.
However, they do appear to have conformed to
Temple inscriptions from the period of the
Kakatiya dynasty
The Kakatiya dynasty (IAST: Kākatīya) was an Indian dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan region comprising present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and parts of eastern Karnataka and southern Odisha between 12th and 14th centuries. Th ...
, a
South Indian dynasty that flourished between 1175-1324 CE in the Telugu-speaking lands now in Andhra Pradesh, refer both to royal and clerical ''rajus'' as donors, together with peasant leaders called ''
Reddies''.
Modern community
Population
A report published by the
Overseas Development Institute in 2002, describing the Rajus of Andhra as an ex-warrior caste, noted that along with the
Kapu Kapu may refer to:
* Kapu (Hawaiian culture), a Hawaiian code of conduct
* Kapu (caste), a social group of India
* Kapu, Karnataka, a town in Karnataka, India
** Kapu Assembly constituency
* Kapu, Arunachal Pradesh, a settlement in Tirap district, A ...
and
Velama they were
the Rajus constituted less than 1 per cent of the population in Andhra Pradesh, concentrated mainly in the
coastal region
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
.
References
Notes
Citations
{{reflist
Titles in India
Indian castes
Social groups of Andhra Pradesh