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The Raju (or Rajulu) are a Telugu caste found mostly in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Etymology and claims of Kshatriya status

The Raju caste, which A. Satyanarayana calls the "locally dominant landed gentry", claims Kshatriya status in the varna system despite there being "no real Kshatriya varna" in the Andhra region. They also claim descent from the ancient royal dynasties of India such as the Eastern Chalukyas, Chalukya-Cholas, Vishnukundina, Gajapati, Chagi, Paricheda and Kota Vamsa.

Raju is a Telugu language variant of the Sanskrit title Raja, a term for a monarch or princely ruler. Austin Cynthia Talbot describes the term as being

...most often used by members of noble or princely lineages. could also designate an individual employed by a lord or prince.

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. However, they do appear to have conformed to

...the existence of broad social categories based primarily on occupation. Although did not necessarily designate a distinct class, much less a bounded community, or a hereditary grouping, various sets of these titles differentiated social types marked by a common status and shared occupation.

Temple inscriptions from the period of the Kakatiya dynasty, a South Indian dynasty that ruled most of the Telugu speaking lands covered by current day Andhra Pradesh, India from 1083 CE to 1323 CE, refer both to royal and clerical rajus as donors, together with peasant leaders called reddies.

Ethnonyms

Over the centuries they have been called by various alternative names that signified their military status. During the British Raj they were known as Ratsas and Rajavars, which means of or belonging to the caste of Ratsawars (Raja Caste), using the title of Raju.

From the medieval period, the term "Andhra Kshatriya" has been used synonymously with Rachavaru, Rajus and Telugu Kshatriya.

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 and Vellamar they were

...important communities with considerable political significance in the State, although in numerical terms they constitute only a small percentage of the population and spatially are confined only to small pockets.

As of 2002 the Rajus constituted less than 1 per cent of the population in Andhra Pradesh, concentrated mainly in the coastal region.

A well-known contemporary "Raju (Kshatriya)" was Sai Baba.

Notes

1. The anthropologist Minna Säävälä glosses the present-day Rajus as a "higher caste of traditional warriors and rulers; Kshatriya", but does not provide an explanation or source for this description.

References

1. Satyanarayana, A. (2002). "Growth of Education among the Dalit-Bahujan Communities in Modern Andhra, 1893-1947". In Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi (ed.). Education and the Disprivileged: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India. Orient Blackswan. p. 53. ISBN 978-81-250-2192-6. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
2. Säävälä, Minna (2001). Fertility and familial power relations: procreation in south India. Psychology Press. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0-7007-1484-1. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
3. Krishnarao, B.V (1942). A History of the Early Dynasties of Andhradesa. V. Ramaswami Sastrulu. p. 258.
4. ^ Talbot, Austin Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 978-0-19-513661-6. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
5. Talbot, Austin Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-19-513661-6. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
6. Gribble, J.D.B., History of the Deccan, 1896, Luzac and Co., London
7. Talbot, Austin Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-19-513661-6. Retrieved 2014-03-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
8. C. D. Maclean (1877). Standing information regarding the official administration of the Madras presidency in each department: in illustration of the yearly administration reports. E. Keys. pp. 341–. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
9. Satish Chandra; Sri Venkatesvara University (1977*). Sri Rebala Lakshminarasa Reddy Endowment lectures, 1976. Sri Venkateswara University. Retrieved 25 July 2011. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. Krishnarao, B.V (1942). A History of the Early Dynasties of Andhradesa. V. Ramaswami Sastrulu. p. 269.
11. Krishnarao, B.V (1942). A History of the Early Dynasties of Andhradesa. V. Ramaswami Sastrulu. p. 149,159.
12. Srinivasulu, K. (September 2002). "Caste, Class and Social Articulation In Andhra Pradesh. Mapping Differential Regional Tragectories" (PDF). London: Overseas Development Institute. p. 3. ISBN 0-85003-612-7. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
13. Suri, K. C. (September 2002). "Democratic Process and Electoral Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India" (PDF). London: Overseas Development Institute. p. 10. ISBN 0-85003-613-5. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
14. N. Suman Bhat (2005), Saints of the masses, Sura Books, p.82

• Raju
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