RAKSHASAS, in the Hindu mythology a species of evil spirits, akin to ogres.

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, courtier, soldier, and man of letters, born near Budleigh, in E. Devon, of ancient family; entered as student at Oxford, but at 17 joined a small volunteer force in aid of the Protestants in France; in 1580 distinguished himself in suppressing a rebellion in Ireland; was in 1582 introduced at court, fascinated the heart of the Queen by his handsome presence and his gallant bearing, and received no end of favours at her hand; joined his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in an expedition to North America, founded a colony, which he called Virginia in honour of the queen, and brought home with him the potato and the tobacco plants, till then unknown in this country; rendered distinguished services in the destruction of the Armada; visited and explored Guiana, and brought back tidings of its wealth in gold and precious things; fell into disfavour with the queen, but regained her esteem; under King James he became suspected of disloyalty, and was committed to the Tower, where he remained 12 years, and wrote his “History of the World”; on his release, but without a pardon, he set out to the Orinoco in quest of gold-mines there, but returned heart-broken and to be sentenced to die; he met his fate with calm courage, and was beheaded in the Old Palace Yard; of the executioner’s axe he smilingly remarked, “A sharp medicine, but an infallible cure” (1552-1618).

RALSTON, WILLIAM SHEDDEN, a noted Russian scholar and translator, born in London; studied at Cambridge, and in 1862 was called to the bar, but never practised; assistant in the British Museum library till 1875; visited Russia; his works embrace “Songs of the Russian People,” “Russian Folk-Tales,” &c. (1828-1889).

RAMA, in the Hindu mythology an avatar of Vishnu, being the seventh, in the character of a hero, a destroyer of monsters and a bringer of joy, as the name signifies, the narrative of whose exploits are given in the “RAMAYANA” (q. v.).

RAMADAN, the ninth month of the Mohammedan year, a kind of Lent, held sacred as a month of fasting by all Moslems, being the month in the life of Mahomet when, as he spent it alone in meditation and prayer, his eyes were opened to see, through the shows of things, into the one eternal Reality, the greatness and absolute sovereignty of Allah.

RAMAYANA, one of the two great epic poems, and the best, of the Hindus, celebrating the life and exploits of Rama, “a work of art in which an elevated religious and moral spirit is allied with much poetic fiction, ... written in accents of an ardent charity, of a compassion, a tenderness, and a humility at once sweet and plaintive, which ever and anon suggest Christian influences.”

RAMBLER, a periodical containing essays by Johnson in the Spectator vein, issued in 1750-52, but written in that “stiff and cumbrous style which,” as Professor Saintsbury remarks, “has been rather unjustly identified with Johnson’s manner of writing generally.”