with the Muhammadan armies, and they, more than any other claimants to a Kshatriya descent, have maintained their fondness for military service. Almost all are sepoys or military pensioners. Their names always end with Singh, and in many of their customs they resemble the Muhammadans, speaking Hindustani, and invariably keeping their wives gosha. They are often erroneously spoken of by the people as Bondilis, a term which is applicable only to the Vaisya and Sūdra immigrants from Northern India; but doubtless many of these lower classes have taken the title Singh, and called themselves Rājputs. Members of the caste are, therefore, very suspicious of strangers professing to be Rājputs. Their cooking apartment, called chowka, is kept most religiously private, and a line is drawn round it, beyond which none but members of the family itself may pass. At marriages and feasts, for the same reason, cooked food is never offered to the guests, but raw grain is distributed, which each cooks in a separate and private place."
It is noted,*[1] in connection with the battle of Padmanābham in the Vizagapatam district, in 1794, that "no correct list of the wounded was ever procured, but no less than three hundred and nine were killed. Of these two hundred and eight were Rājputs, and the bodies of forty Rājputs, of the first rank in the country, formed a rampart round the corpse of Viziarāma Razu. Padmanābham will long be remembered as the Flodden of the Rājputs of Vizianagram."
Rākshasa (a mythological giant). — An exogamous sept of Toreya.
Rālla (precious stones). — A sub-division of Balijas who cut, polish, and trade in precious stones. A further
- ↑ * Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district.
