stringed instrument: Zithers: …having one idiochordic string (raft zither). The typical box zither is a rectangular or, more often, trapezoid-shaped hollow box, with strings that are either struck with light hammers or plucked. Examples of the former are the Persian sanṭūr and its Chinese derivative, the yangqin (“foreign zither”); the cimbalom

Alexander Hall: Early work: …four movies, among them the George Raft crime drama Midnight Club (1933). Still at Paramount, he helmed one of Shirley Temple’s best showcases, Little Miss Marker (1934). Other films released in 1934 were The Pursuit of Happiness, a period piece starring Joan Bennett, and the melodrama Limehouse Blues, with Raft…

John Pepper Clark: …family tragedy, but it is The Raft (performed 1978) that is considered to be his finest piece of dramatic writing. The situation of four men helplessly adrift on a raft in the Niger River suggests both the human predicament and the dilemma of Nigeria in the modern world. Clark’s characterization…

construction: Primitive building: the Stone Age: …columns along the long walls; rafters were run from the ridgepole to the wall beams. The lateral stability of the frame was achieved by burying the columns deep in the ground; the ridgepole and rafters were then tied to the columns with vegetable fibres. The usual roofing material was thatch:…

Kitty Clive was one of David Garrick’s leading ladies, the outstanding comedic actress of her day in England. About 1728 Clive began to play at Drury Lane Theatre under the actor and dramatist Colley Cibber, and she soon became a favourite. She married George Clive, a barrister, but they separated

papermaking: Rags: Cotton and linen fibres, derived from textile and garment mill cuttings; cotton linters (the short fibres recovered from the processing of cottonseed after the separation of the staple fibre); flax fibres; and clean, sorted rags are still used for those grades of paper in which…

RAG Aktiengesellschaft, German company that was created in order to consolidate all coal-mining activities in the Ruhr region. Company headquarters are in Essen. Although coal represents one of Germany’s major mineral resources, the coal industry suffered a severe decline in the 1960s owing to

loofah, (genus Luffa), genus of seven species of annual climbing vines of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to the Old World tropics. Two species (Luffa acutangula and L. aegyptiaca) are commonly cultivated for their fruits, which are edible when young and have a fibrous spongelike interior

printmaking: Printing by intaglio processes: A fairly heavy pure rag paper is normally used. It is soaked until its fibres are softened and then, before printing, it is blotted until no surface water is visible. For inking, the plate is placed on a heater and kept warm throughout the inking and wiping steps. Heat…

rag worm, any of a group of mostly marine or shore worms of the class Polychaeta (phylum Annelida). A few species live in fresh water. Other common names include mussel worm, pileworm, and sandworm. Rag worms vary in length from 2.5 to 90 cm (1 inch to 3 feet); they are commonly brown, bright red,

confidence game: Another game, called “the rag,” used a fake brokerage house, where the victim was deceived by false stock quotations placed by swindlers, or “con men,” posing as investment brokers.

wind instrument: In Asia: …which is the long copper rag-dung. These straight, conically bored natural horns vary in length from some 5.5 to 10 feet (1.7 to 3 metres) or more and are sometimes made in sections that can be telescoped to enhance portability; they provide drones for chanting. The only melodic instrument in…

Pentecost, island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Espiritu Santo island. Volcanic in origin, it occupies 169 square miles (438 square km) and has a central mountain ridge that rises to 3,104 feet (946 metres) at Mount Vulmat. Many permanent

raga , (from Sanskrit, meaning “colour” or “passion”), in the classical music of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, a melodic framework for improvisation and composition. A raga is based on a scale with a given set of notes, a typical order in which they appear in melodies, and characteristic musical

Ravi Shankar: …for sitar and orchestra, particularly Raga-Mala (“Garland of Ragas”), first performed in 1981.

South Asian arts: South India: …the South Indian concert, called ragam-tanam-pallavi, is, on the other hand, mostly improvised. It begins with a long alapa, called ragam in this context, presumably because this elaborate, gradually developing alapa is intended to display the raga being performed in as complete a manner as possible, without the limitations imposed…

South Asian arts: Deccani style: …symbolically the musical modes (rāgamālā) also survives. Of illustrated manuscripts, the most important are the Nujūm-ul-ʿulūm (“The Stars of the Sciences,” 1590; Chester Beatty Library, Dublin) and the Tārīf-e Ḥuseyn-Shāhī (Bharata Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala, Pune), painted around 1565 in the neighbouring state of Ahmadnagar. The sultanate of Golconda also…

Carlo Cassola: …La ragazza di Bube (Bebo’s Girl; film, 1964). These austere novels portray with sympathy and restraint individuals—especially women—whose lives are bleak and unfulfilled. Cassola’s later concern with the environment and the threat of nuclear war was reflected in essays and in the novel Il paradiso degli animali (1979; “Animals’…

Pier Paolo Pasolini: …novels, Ragazzi di vita (1955; The Ragazzi) and Una vita violenta (1959; A Violent Life). These brutally realistic depictions of the poverty and squalor of slum life in Rome were similar in character to his first film, Accattone (1961), and all three works dealt with the lives of thieves, prostitutes,…

Pier Paolo Pasolini: …novels, Ragazzi di vita (1955; The Ragazzi) and Una vita violenta (1959; A Violent Life). These brutally realistic depictions of the poverty and squalor of slum life in Rome were similar in character to his first film, Accattone (1961), and all three works dealt with the lives of thieves, prostitutes,…

Temne: …sometimes a member of the ragbenle and poro male secret societies. The ragbenle is responsible for curing certain diseases and performing ceremonies to promote the growth of crops. The women’s bundu society mainly prepares girls for marriage. Traditional religious beliefs in a supreme god and in nature and ancestral spirits…

Bob Woodward: …the White House (2018) and Rage (2020) Woodward presented a highly critical account of Donald Trump’s presidency; the latter work included a series of interviews with Trump. Peril (2021; written with Robert Costa) focuses on Trump’s efforts to remain in office despite losing the 2020 election.

emotion: The variety and complexity of emotions: Such are anger, pity, fear and the like, with their opposites.” Emotion is indeed a heterogeneous category that encompasses a wide variety of important psychological phenomena. Some emotions are very specific, insofar as they concern a particular person, object, or situation. Others, such as distress, joy, or…

Rage Against the Machine, American alternative rock band known for incendiary political lyrics, social activism, and a hard-driving sound that incorporated elements of hip-hop and heavy metal. Rage Against the Machine was formed in Los Angeles in the early 1990s and comprised vocalist Zack de la

English literature: Fiction: …Ottoman Empire (Pascali’s Island [1980], The Rage of the Vulture [1982]) to Venice in its imperial prime and its decadence (Stone Virgin [1985]) and northern England in the 14th century (Morality Play [1995]). Patrick O’Brian attracted an ardent following with his series of meticulously researched novels about naval life during…

Chilperic II: Utterly subservient to Ragenfrid, mayor of the palace, who was attempting to throw off Austrasian control, Chilperic fled to Aquitaine in 719 after being defeated by Charles Martel, Austrasian mayor of the palace at Amblève in the Ardennes (716) and Vinchy, near Cambrai (717). In 719, however, the…

ragfish, (genus Icosteus aenigmaticus), marine fish, the single species in the family Icosteidae (order Perciformes). The ragfish is found throughout the North Pacific. The name refers to their floppy, limp bodies, which are considered flexible as a rag. Ragfishes have a cartilaginous skeleton that

dancehall music, style of Jamaican popular music that had its genesis in the political turbulence of the late 1970s and became Jamaica’s dominant music in the 1980s and ’90s. Central to dancehall is the deejay, who raps, or “toasts,” over a prerecorded rhythm track (bass guitar and drums), or

Ragged Dick, children’s book by Horatio Alger, Jr., published serially in 1867 and in book form in 1868. Alternately titled Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks, the popular though formulaic story chronicles the successful rise of the title character from rags to respectability. Like most of

Ragged Dick, children’s book by Horatio Alger, Jr., published serially in 1867 and in book form in 1868. Alternately titled Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks, the popular though formulaic story chronicles the successful rise of the title character from rags to respectability. Like most of

Neil Young: Harvest, Rust Never Sleeps, and Harvest Moon: …rebirth came in 1990 with Ragged Glory, with its thick clouds of sound, riddled with feedback and distortion, and gritty, psychologically searing lyrics. Examining time’s passage and human relationships, Young never succumbed to easy, rose-coloured allure. Typically, he followed this critical and commercial success with defiantly howling collages, Arc and…

ragged school, any of the 19th-century English and Scottish institutions maintained through charity and fostering various educational and other services for poor children, such as elementary schooling, industrial training, religious instruction, clothing clubs, and messenger and bootblack brigades.

ragged school: …with the founding of the Ragged School Union in London. They rapidly died out after 1870 with the introduction of national compulsory education, though a few remained into the 20th century.

Sissy Spacek: …for her lead role in Raggedy Man (1981), directed by her husband, Jack Fisk, and she won nominations for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for her performance in Costa-Gavras’s Missing (1982). Her portrayal of a struggling farm wife in The River (1984) earned her additional Golden…

Italy: Collapse of the republics: …for instance, a secret society, I Raggi (“The Beams of Light”), advocated a democratic, unionist, and anti-French program that would lead Italy toward unity and independence.

Rome: Capital of a united Italy: …successes when Five Star candidate Virginia Raggi was elected mayor of Rome in June 2016. The 37-year-old Raggi was Rome’s first female mayor as well as its youngest, and she won a landslide victory on a pledge to end corruption in the Eternal City. Within months of taking office, however,…

Traiano Boccalini: …Earl of Monmouth, and called Advertisements from Parnassus; in Two Centuries with the Politick Touch-stone (1656). This and other European translations influenced Miguel de Cervantes, Joseph Addison, and Jonathan Swift.

Rayy, formerly one of the great cities of Iran. The remains of the ancient city lie on the eastern outskirts of the modern city of Shahr-e Rey, which itself is located just a few miles southeast of Tehrān. A settlement at the site dates from the 3rd millennium bce. Rayy is featured in the Avesta

South Asian arts: Period of the Tamil Cōḷa Empire (10th–13th century): …century, his disciple and nephew, Rāghavāṅka, wrote, in ṣaṭpadis (six-line stanzas), of the lives of saints, in well-structured works such as Sōmanātha Carite and Siddharāma Caritra; his most mature work is Hariścandrakāvya, an unequalled reworking of an ancient Job-like story of Hariścandra, who suffered every ordeal for his love of…

Asghar Farhadi: …film, Raghṣ dar ghobār (Dancing in the Dust), about a young man who flees to the desert after being forced to divorce his wife over rumours that her mother is a prostitute; Farhardi also penned the screenplay, as he would for most of his films. He next made Shahr-e…

India: Rise of the peshwas: …figure from this line is Raghuji Bhonsle (ruled 1727–55), who was responsible for the Maratha incursions on Bengal and Bihar in the 1740s and early ’50s. The relations of his successors, Janoji, Sabaji, and Mudoji, with the peshwas and the Satara line were variable, and it is in this sense…

Treaty of Deogaon: …1st duke of Wellington) between Raghuji Bhonsle II—the Maratha raja of Berar—and the British East India Company. With the Treaty of Surji-Arjungaon (Dec. 30, 1803), it marked the end of the first phase of the Second Maratha War (1803–05). By this treaty the raja of Berar

Pudukkottai: Pudukkottai was founded by Raghunath, raja of Tondaimandalam (the region around the ancient port of Tondi on India’s southeastern coast). Industries include peanut (groundnut) oil and sesame oil extraction. The city is connected by railway to Tiruchchirappalli and Thanjavur as well as to Madurai to the southwest. Rice, pulses…

India: Relations with the Marathas and Mysore: …peshwa-ship led Bombay to support Raghunatha Rao in the hope of securing the island of Salsette and town of Bassein. (See Treaty of Purandhar.) When this was countermanded by Calcutta, London intervened to renew the venture. In 1779 a British army was surrounded on its way to Pune, one month…

India: Relations with the Marathas and Mysore: …peshwa-ship led Bombay to support Raghunatha Rao in the hope of securing the island of Salsette and town of Bassein. (See Treaty of Purandhar.) When this was countermanded by Calcutta, London intervened to renew the venture. In 1779 a British army was surrounded on its way to Pune, one month…

Raghunatha Shiromani was a philosopher and logician who brought the New Nyaya school, representing the final development of Indian formal logic, to its zenith of analytic power. Raghunatha’s analysis of relations revealed the true nature of number, inseparable from the abstraction of natural

Raghuvamsha, One of two great court epics (mahakavyas) written in Sanskrit by Kalidasa about the 5th century ce. It consists of 19 cantos composed of some 1,570 verses. The work, which deals with subjects taken from the Ramayana, describes the vicissitudes of the Solar dynasty of the ancient Indian

Turkish literature: Movements and poets: …of the 18th century was Koca Ragıb Paşa, whose public life was that of a high bureaucrat and diplomat. His career extended from serving as chief secretary of foreign affairs and, later, as grand vizier to being governor of several large provinces. Ragıb Paşa made no striking formal innovations, but…

Martin Scorsese: Films of the 1980s: Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, and The Color of Money: …made the brutal but beautiful Raging Bull (1980). Loosely adapted by Schrader and Mardik Martin from the memoir of former middleweight boxing champ Jake La Motta, this vitriolic essay on the pleasurable pain of violence is immediately impressive for its stunning black-and-white cinematography by Michael Chapman and for its meticulous…

Jake LaMotta: His autobiography, Raging Bull (1970), was made into a movie, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro as LaMotta, in 1980. LaMotta later acted in a number of films, including the Paul Newman vehicle The Hustler (1961), and toured as a stand-up comedian. In…

Pietro Aretino: In his Ragionamenti (1534–36; modern edition, 1914; “Discussions”), Roman prostitutes reveal to each other the moral failings of many important men of their city, and in I dialoghi and other dialogues he continues the examination of carnality and corruption among Romans.

FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan was a field marshal and the first British commander in chief during the Crimean War. His leadership in the war has usually been criticized. During the Napoleonic Wars and afterward, Somerset served as the Duke of Wellington’s military secretary. In

FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan: …name was applied to the raglan sleeve, which came into use in about 1855.

FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan was a field marshal and the first British commander in chief during the Crimean War. His leadership in the war has usually been criticized. During the Napoleonic Wars and afterward, Somerset served as the Duke of Wellington’s military secretary. In

Edward Somerset, 2nd marquess of Worcester was a prominent Royalist during the English Civil Wars. His father, Henry Somerset, 5th Earl of Worcester, advanced large sums of money to Charles I at the outbreak of the wars and was created Marquess of Worcester in 1643. In the following year, Edward

Sarah Weddington was an American lawyer, speaker, educator, and writer best known for her role as the plaintiff’s counsel in the landmark case Roe v. Wade, which, in 1973, overturned antiabortion statutes in Texas and made abortion legal throughout the United States. Weddington was raised in a

Gudmundur Kamban: …as in his first novel, Ragnar Finnsson (1922), all of which are set in America, attention is focused on crime and punishment. Questions about societal versus personal responsibility are posed with compassion for the human individual and are closely linked to tragic marital conflicts.

Ragnar Lothbrok was a Viking whose life passed into legend in medieval European literature. Ragnar is said to have been the father of three sons—Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and Hubba (Ubbe)—who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other medieval sources, led a Viking invasion of

Ragnar Lothbrok was a Viking whose life passed into legend in medieval European literature. Ragnar is said to have been the father of three sons—Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and Hubba (Ubbe)—who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other medieval sources, led a Viking invasion of

Ragnar Lothbrok was a Viking whose life passed into legend in medieval European literature. Ragnar is said to have been the father of three sons—Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and Hubba (Ubbe)—who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other medieval sources, led a Viking invasion of

Ragnarök, (Old Norse: “Doom of the Gods”), in Scandinavian mythology, the end of the world of gods and men. The Ragnarök is fully described only in the Icelandic poem Völuspá (“Sibyl’s Prophecy”), probably of the late 10th century, and in the 13th-century Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241),

A.S. Byatt: Ragnarok: The End of the Gods (2011), a retelling of the Norse myth, is set during World War II and centres on a young girl who is evacuated to the countryside.

Ragnar Lothbrok was a Viking whose life passed into legend in medieval European literature. Ragnar is said to have been the father of three sons—Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and Hubba (Ubbe)—who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other medieval sources, led a Viking invasion of

Ragnarök, (Old Norse: “Doom of the Gods”), in Scandinavian mythology, the end of the world of gods and men. The Ragnarök is fully described only in the Icelandic poem Völuspá (“Sibyl’s Prophecy”), probably of the late 10th century, and in the 13th-century Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson (d. 1241),

Scotland: The Norse influence: A mid-12th-century earl of Orkney, Ragnvald, built the great cathedral at Kirkwall in honour of his martyred uncle St. Magnus.

stew: The French ragout à brun is a brown stew that is flavoured with garlic, tomato, and herbs. A navarin is a ragout à brun made with lamb or mutton; navarin à la printanière has been garnished with new potatoes, carrots, peas, onions, and turnips. Fricassees and blanquettes…

Ray Stevens is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian known for his humorous topical country tunes often featuring unusual sound effects. His comedic nature was notably captured in his novelty songs “Gitarzan” (1969), a humorous spin on the adventures of the fictional jungle

E.L. Doctorow: In Ragtime (1975; film 1981), historical figures share the spotlight with characters emblematic of the shifting social dynamics of early 20th-century America.

ragtime, propulsively syncopated musical style, one forerunner of jazz and the predominant style of American popular music from about 1899 to 1917. Ragtime evolved in the playing of honky-tonk pianists along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in the last decades of the 19th century. It was

Robert Altman: M*A*S*H and the 1970s: Doctorow’s novel Ragtime (eventually made by Miloš Forman). Undaunted, Altman acted as producer, director, and writer for Three Women (1977). A mystical investigation into the nature of identity (based on a dream Altman had), with Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Janice Rule, it polarized critics. Altman and…

Ragunan Zoological Gardens, zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia, that is one of the world’s notable collections of Southeast Asian flora and fauna. More than 3,500 specimens of approximately 450 animal species are exhibited on the 200-hectare (494-acre) park grounds. Among these are the orangutan, Sumatran

Dubrovnik, port of Dalmatia, southeastern Croatia. Situated on the southern Adriatic Sea coast, it is usually regarded as the most picturesque city on the Dalmatian coast and is referred to as the “Pearl of the Adriatic.” Dubrovnik (derived from dubrava in Croatian, meaning “grove”) occupies a

Ragusa, city, southeastern Sicily, Italy. The city lies in the Hyblaei Hills above the gorge of the Irminio River, west of Syracuse. The old lower town of Ragusa Ibla (on the site of the ancient Hybla Heraea) is separated from the upper (modern) town by a declivity. Ragusa was the centre of an

Dalmatian language: Ragusan Dalmatian probably disappeared in the 17th century; the Vegliot Dalmatian dialect became extinct in the 19th century.

Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de Marmont, duke de Raguse was a marshal of France whose distinguished military career ended when, as Napoleon’s chief lieutenant in a battle under the walls of the city, he surrendered Paris (March 30, 1814) and a few days later took his troops into the Allied lines.

Dubrovnik, port of Dalmatia, southeastern Croatia. Situated on the southern Adriatic Sea coast, it is usually regarded as the most picturesque city on the Dalmatian coast and is referred to as the “Pearl of the Adriatic.” Dubrovnik (derived from dubrava in Croatian, meaning “grove”) occupies a

ragweed, (genus Ambrosia), genus of about 40 species of weedy plants in the aster family (Asteraceae). Most species are native to North America. Ragweed pollen, which is shed in great abundance in late summer, is the principal cause of hay fever in eastern and middle North America. The ragweeds are

groundsel, (genus Senecio), large genus of about 1,200 species of flowering plants in the aster family (Asteraceae) distributed throughout the world. Some species are cultivated as border plants or houseplants, and many species contain alkaloids that are poisonous to grazing animals. A diverse

Leviathan, in Jewish mythology, a primordial sea serpent. Its source is in prebiblical Mesopotamian myth, especially that of the sea monster in the Ugaritic myth of Baal (see Yamm). In the Old Testament, Leviathan appears in Psalms 74:14 as a multiheaded sea serpent that is killed by God and given

biblical literature: The conquest of Canaan: …the Letter to the Hebrews, Rahab is depicted as an example of a person of faith. After the return of the spies, who reported that the people of Canaan were “fainthearted” in the face of the Israelite threat, Joshua launched the invasion of Canaan; the Israelite tribes crossed the Jordan…

Cochin Jews: David Ezekiel Rahabi (1694–1771) was, from 1726 on, the chief merchant of the Dutch East India Company and negotiated on their behalf with the surrounding local rulers. The Paradesis started to decline in the 19th century. In search of better economic prospects, Cochin Jews also…

Rahad River, tributary of the Blue Nile, rising in the Ethiopian highlands, west of Lake Tana. It flows more than 300 miles (480 km) northwest into the eastern part of Sudan to join the Blue Nile above Wad Madani. Although waterless during the dry season, it has a large flow during the flood season

Sudan: Mechanized agriculture: …provides irrigation water for the Rahad Scheme.

Rahad River, tributary of the Blue Nile, rising in the Ethiopian highlands, west of Lake Tana. It flows more than 300 miles (480 km) northwest into the eastern part of Sudan to join the Blue Nile above Wad Madani. Although waterless during the dry season, it has a large flow during the flood season

Paola, town, eastern Malta, just south of Valletta and adjacent to Tarxien to the southeast. It was founded in 1626 by the grand master of the Hospitallers (Knights of Malta), Antoine de Paule, and it remained a small village until the late 19th century, when it grew rapidly as a residential

Fairouz: Career: …fact, that Fairouz and the Rahbani Brothers recorded their first song, “ʿItāb” (“Blame”). Their renown in Lebanon was cemented when the family performed at the Baalbek International Festival in 1957, the first year that the internationally focused summer cultural festival included Lebanese folkloric acts. Known as “The Lebanese Nights,” the…

Fairouz: Fairouz’s husband was Assi Rahbani, who along with his brother Mansour Rahbani—known together as the Rahbani Brothers—wrote and composed the majority of the songs and plays that Fairouz performed from the mid-1950s until Assi suffered a debilitating stroke in 1973. Subsequently, Fairouz began collaborating, separately, with her son…

rahbānīyah, (Arabic: “monasticism”), the monastic state, whose admissibility in Islām is much disputed by Muslim theologians. The term appears but once in the Qurʾān: “And we set in the hearts of those who follow Jesus, tenderness and mercy. And monasticism they invented—we did not prescribe it for

supreme leader of Iran, head of state in Iran, overseeing virtually all functions of government either directly or indirectly. The post was instituted as rahbar (“leader”) in 1979 with the creation of Iran’s Islamic Republic, which blends democratic elements with theocratic oversight from Islamic

Arabic literature: Categories and forms: …transition, a second section (the raḥīl) recounts a desert journey, thus affording the opportunity for descriptions of animals—especially the camel and horse as primary riding beasts—that are among the most famous and beloved within the entire tradition of Arabic poetry. A section in praise of the tribe (the madīḥ) comes…

Richard Reid is a British Islamist militant who gained notoriety as the so-called Shoe Bomber in 2001 after he attempted—by igniting explosives hidden in the soles of his high-top basketball shoes—to blow up an airplane on which he and some 200 other passengers were traveling. Reid was the only son

Rahīmyār Khān, town, southern Punjab province, Pakistan. The town was founded in 1751 as Naushehra and received its present name in 1881. It is linked by road and rail with Bahāwalpur, Multān, and Sukkur and is a growing industrial centre (cotton ginning and cottonseed-oil pressing). It has a large

Sikhism: Guru Gobind Singh and the founding of the Khalsa: …have been incorporated into the Rahit, the Sikh code of belief and conduct, which reached nearly its final form in the early 20th century.

rahit-nama, in Sikhism, sets of guidelines that govern the behaviour of Sikhs. The rahit-namas provide systematic statements of the principles of the Khalsa (the community of initiated Sikhs) and the way of life lived in accordance with these principles. Nanak (1469–1539), the first Guru and the

Qatar: Early history and British protectorate: …most famous of whom was Raḥmah ibn Jābir al-Jalāhimah, known particularly for his maritime warring with the Khalifah family and their associates.

hajj: …the holy places outside Mecca—Jabal al-Raḥmah, Muzdalifah, and Minā—and sacrifices an animal in commemoration of Abraham’s sacrifice. Male pilgrims’ heads are then usually shaved, and female pilgrims remove a lock of hair. After the rajm ritual at Minā, in which pilgrims throw seven stones at three walls (formerly pillars,…

A.R. Rahman is an Indian composer whose extensive body of work for film and stage earned him the nickname “the Mozart of Madras.” Rahman’s father, R.K. Sekhar, was a prominent Tamil musician who composed scores for the Malayalam film industry, and Rahman began studying piano at age four. The boy’s

Singapore: East India Company: …a subordinate of his cousin Abdul Rahman, sultan of Riau-Johor, who was under Dutch surveillance. Furthermore, Abdul Rahman was a younger son and not a sultan de jure. Raffles, disobeying instructions not to offend the Dutch, withdrew his own recognition of Abdul Rahman’s suzerainty over Singapore and installed Abdul Rahman’s…

Tuanku Abdul Rahman was the first supreme chief of state of the Federation of Malaya. After the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1957, the tuanku became the first head of state, or paramount ruler, elected by and from the Malay rulers for a five-year term. Abdul Rahman died before

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj was the first prime minister of independent Malaya (1957–63) and then of Malaysia (1963–70), under whose leadership the newly formed government was stabilized. After studies in England (1920–31), Abdul Rahman returned to Malaya to enter the Kedah civil service. In