K A H 



built on the W. bank, at the ontraiicc of the canal of Da- 

 manhour, which is na\ iguble only at tlic rife of tlie Nile ; 9 

 miles S. of Fno,u ; wliich lee. ^ „ ^ . , 



RAHMETABAD, a town of Perfia, m the province 

 of Irak ; 20 miles N.E. of Confar. 



RAHNIS, or Ranis, a town of Saxony, in the circle 

 of NeuRadt ; 10 miks S. W. of Neuftadt. N. lat. 50° 33'. 

 E. long. iT-' 40'. 



RAHNY, a town of Bengal ; 25 miles N.W. of Di- 



nagepour. . , , r 1 



RAHON, a town of France, in the department ot the 



Jura ; 6 miles S. of Dole. 



RAHOON, a town of Hindooftan, in the fubah of 



Lahore ; 108 miles S.E. of Lahore. N. lat. 3 1° 7'. E. long. 



75° 42" 



who will pay them- 

 rajahs in his fcrvicc 



R A l\ 



The Great Mogul has feveral of thefe 



I 



Tlic chief lords of the Moguls, vi%. the vice-roy», go- 



RAHU, in AJlronomy, is the Hindoo name of the planet 

 of the afcending node, or dragon's head. Ketu is the 

 name of the other node ; and a fable, in the ufual llyle of 

 mythological allegory, is given under that article, of their 

 origin and milhap. The malignant Rahu was decapitated, 

 and Ketu was his head. In one painting of the Hindoo zo- 

 diac, the hcadlefs Rahu is repreiented of a black colour, in 

 red clothing, mounted on an owl, and holding a lotos in his 

 hand : in another, he holds a fpear, and Hands on a tortoifc. 

 In the fable given under Ketu it is related that Viflmu was 

 the decapitator of Rahu : other accounts affign that office 

 to Narayana. Among the Hindeos, as we have had occa- 

 fion to remark in feveral articles, their fciences, as well at 

 their hiftory and religion, are enveloped in a mafs of mytho- 

 logical allegory : a farther inftancc of which, connefted with 

 the fubjeft of this article, is feen under Eclipse {Note. 

 A reference being made from the article Ketu to this, we 

 take the opportunity of correfting two typographical er- 

 rors in that article. In its early part, for Karyapa, read Ka- 

 fyapa ; and in the fourth line of the fecond column, for or 

 read a.) 



RAHWAY, in Geography. See Rawa. 

 RAI, or Rae, an ancient town of Perfia, in the pro- 

 vince of Irak, before Ifpahan the capital of Perfia. This 

 was once a grand and proud city ; and its ruins ftill cover 

 a great extent of country. It holds a diilinguidied place in 

 the annals of Perfia : it is mentioned by Arrian and Dio- 

 dorus Siculus, as the capital of the province of Riiages, fo 

 called from the calamities brought upon this part of the 

 empire by the earthquakes to which it formerly was, and is 

 ftill fubjett. It is frequently mentioned in the wars of the 

 renowned Haroun al R;^(hid ; it was the capital of this part 

 of Perfia, in the reign of Alp-Arflan, and continued to 

 flourilh untilit was facked by the generals of Jenghis Khan. 

 Its ruins are fituated five miles S. of Tehraun, the prefent 

 capital of Perfia ; and in the centre of them is a village, 

 called Sheik Abdul Azzecm, from a fon of the feventh 

 Imam, to whofe memory a noble mofque and maufoleum 

 have been erefted. 



RAJA, denoting Itlng, an appellation given in Hindoo- 

 ftan, or the empire of the Mogul, to princes defcended from 

 thofe that ruled there before the conqueil of the Moguls ; 

 who exercifed all rights of fovereignty, only paying a tri- 

 bute to the Great Mogul, and obferving tiie treaties by 

 which their ancefturs recogniz.ed his fuperiority. 



There are fome rajahs who Hill retain a more independent 

 fovereignty in the mountains : the Indians call them rai ; 

 the PerRans, plurally, raian : our travellers rajahs, or ra- 

 gias. Thefe have under their command foldiers, called raja- 

 poots, or perlons defcended from rajahs, who are a robuft 

 and brave people, and who enter into the fervice of thofe 



veniors of provinces, and chief minillers of ftate, F. L;a- 

 trow obferve^, are called omhras ; and the idolatrous rajahs, 

 or Indian lords who governed petty Hates before the con- 

 quell of their country, held the fame rank at court with thr 

 omhras. 



All the difference was, that the children of the mjalis luc- 

 ceeded their fathers in the (how of the fovereignty left them ; 

 whereas the children of the Mahometan lords lofe all in lofing 

 their fathers. 



The Indians account four ages from the beginning of thf 

 world: and in the fecond, which lalted 1,296,000 years, 

 tliey hold the rajas or kcliatrys had their rife ; a noble call, 

 though inferior to the Bramins. Vice then, they fay, be- 

 gan to creep into the world ; men only lived to 300 years, 

 and their ilature was reduced, &c. 



RAIA, the Ray, in Ichthyology, a genus of fifties of the 

 order Chondroptcrygia, of which the generic charafter is, 

 that it has five oblique fpiracles on each lide, placed beneath 

 the neck ; the head is fmall, pointed, and not diftincl from 

 the body ; the mouth is beneath tranfverfe, toothed ; the 

 body is broad, thin, and fist. 



The individuals of this genus are all inhabitants of the 

 fea only : they keep at the bottom, and in winter cover 

 themfelves with fand and mud : they feed on teftaceous ani- 

 mals, fifh, or any animal fubllances which they may happen 

 to meet with. They grow to a large fize, fometimcs ex- 

 ceeding 20olbs. in weight. The females are the larger, and 

 produce their young alive, only one at a time, which, hke 

 the {hark tribe, are inclofed in a quadrangular, black, horny 

 (liell, the comers of which end in flender incurved points, 

 but not extending into long filaments, like thofe of the fhark : 

 the eyes are half covered with a thin membrane, oblong, 

 placed on the upper part of the head : above thefe, in the 

 place of noftrils, is a broad fulcus or groove, divided by a 

 reticulate membrane, confifting of crelled folds, and clofed 

 with a valve : behind this fulcus are two fmall femilunar ori- 

 fices : the tongue is vsrry broad, fhort, and fmooth. The ven- 

 tral fins are'covered with a thick flcin, and furrounding the 

 body ; the ventral at the bafe are connecfed with the anal ; 

 the fleih is generally eatable ; the liver is large, and producing 

 a great quantity of pure oil. 



Of this genus there are nineteen fpecies, divided into 

 three feftions : -vi^. A, comprifing the eleftric ray, or tor- 

 pedo and fl<ate3: tliefe have ftiarp teeth. B, including the 

 fting-ray and thornbacks, having obtufe teeth. And C, which 

 are denominated uncertain, comprifing five fpecies, which 

 inhabit the Red fea, or about the Cape of Good Hope, but 

 which have not yet been fufficiently examined. 



Seaion A.—Withjharp Teeth. 

 Species. 



* Torpedo ; Eleclric Ray. The body of this fifti is 

 entirely fmooth and flat. The fpecies inhabits the Mediter- 

 ranean, and grows to a large fize : fome have been taken 

 that have weighed from 60 to 8olbs. each, but the average 

 weight is lefs than 2olbs. It is of a dirty clayilh colour ; 

 the head and body are round, and but indiitinftly ieparated. 

 The body is extremely thin ; behind the eyes are two wide 

 foramina, which have been fuppofed to be intended by na- 

 ture for conveying found ; they are befet with fix cutaneous 

 fingers on their inner circumference, and communicate with 

 the mouth. The torpedo can live about twenty-four hours 

 out of the fea, and a fliort time longer, if put into frefti 



water : 



