{{Short description|Raju, Telugu Caste}} {{for-multi|the village in Iran|Raju, Iran|other uses|Raju (disambiguation)}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} {{Use Indian English|date=May 2019}} {{Infobox caste | caste_name = Raju | populated_states = Andhra Pradesh | languages = Telugu | religions = }} The '''Raju''' are a Telugu caste found mostly in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
==Etymology and Early references==
''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: {{blockquote|...most often used by members of noble or princely lineages. [But it] could also designate an individual employed by a lord or prince.<ref name="talbot" />}}
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.<ref name="talbot">{{cite book |title=Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra |first=Austin Cynthia |last=Talbot |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-513661-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |pages=57–58 |access-date=2012-02-29}}</ref> However, they do appear to have conformed to {{blockquote|...the existence of broad social categories based primarily on occupation. Although [the title] 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.<ref name="Talbot">{{cite book |title=Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra |first=Austin Cynthia |last=Talbot |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-513661-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |page=61 |access-date=2012-02-29}}</ref>}}
Temple inscriptions from the period of the Kakatiya dynasty, a South Indian dynasty that flourished between 1175 and 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''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Precolonial India in practice: Society, Region and Identity in Medieval Andhra |first=Austin Cynthia |last=Talbot |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-513661-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C |pages=17, 112 |access-date=2014-03-04}}</ref>
==Varna 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.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Growth of Education among the Dalit-Bahujan Communities in Modern Andhra, 1893-1947 |first=A. |last=Satyanarayana |title=Education and the Disprivileged: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India |editor-first=Sabyasachi |editor-last=Bhattacharya |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-250-2192-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-jBIp3iWdEC |page=53 |access-date=2012-02-29}}</ref>{{efn|The anthropologist Minna Säävälä glossarises the present-day Rajus as a "higher caste of traditional warriors and rulers; Kshatriya",<ref>{{cite book|first=Minna |last=Säävälä |title=Fertility and familial power relations: procreation in south India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9FwQxGqwOUC&pg=PA16 |access-date=4 March 2014 |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7007-1484-1 |page=xvi}}</ref> but does not provide an explanation or source for this description.}} A. Satyanarayana further classifies the Raju/Kshatriya caste as one of the three communities—alongside the Brahmins and the Arya Vaishya/Komati—that constitute the upper-caste dwijas segment in the local social order and are recognized as claimants to the "twice-born" status.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Growth of Education among the Dalit-Bahujan Communities in Modern Andhra, 1893-1947 |first=A. |last=Satyanarayana |title=Education and the Disprivileged: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India |editor-first=Sabyasachi |editor-last=Bhattacharya |publisher=Orient Blackswan |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-250-2192-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-jBIp3iWdEC |pages=17, 54 |access-date=2012-02-29}}</ref>
==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 Velama they were {{blockquote|...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.<ref>{{cite book |title=Caste, Class and Social Articulation In Andhra Pradesh. Mapping Differential Regional Tragectories |first=K. |last=Srinivasulu |page=3 |location=London |publisher=Overseas Development Institute |date=September 2002 |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp179.pdf |isbn=0-85003-612-7 |access-date=2012-02-29 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021821/http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp179.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}
{{As of|2002}} the Rajus constituted less than 1 per cent of the population in Andhra Pradesh, concentrated mainly in the coastal region.<ref>{{cite book |title=Democratic Process and Electoral Politics in Andhra Pradesh, India |first=K. C. |last=Suri |publisher=Overseas Development Institute |location=London |date=September 2002 |page=10 |isbn=0-85003-613-5 |url=http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp180.pdf |access-date=2012-02-29 |archive-date=28 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928021624/http://www.odi.org.uk/publications/working_papers/wp180.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== '''Notes''' {{notelist}} '''Citations''' {{reflist}}
Category:Raju Category:Titles in India Category:Indian castes Category:Social groups of Andhra Pradesh Category:South Indian communities