rail: longirostris), a grayer form; the Virginia rail (R. limicola), reddish brown and about 25 cm (10 inches) in length; and the sora (see crake). The little yellow rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) and the American black rail (Laterallus jamaicensis) are too scarce and too small (about 15 cm [6 inches]) to be…

rally, automobile competition over a specified public route with a driver and navigator attempting to keep to a predetermined schedule between checkpoints. The course is generally unknown to contestants until the start of the rally. Such competition began in 1907 with a Beijing-to-Paris event of

Max Shulman: …Shulman served as scriptwriter, and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1957), which was filmed in 1958 and featured Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Joan Collins. Shulman also wrote the Broadway play The Tender Trap (1954), which comically portrayed the pitfalls of marriage and in 1955 was made into a motion…

Rally for the Republic, former French political party formed by Jacques Chirac in 1976 that presumed to be heir to the traditions of Charles de Gaulle. It was the direct successor to the Gaullist coalitions, operating under various names over the years, that had dominated the political life of the

dog sports: Obedience and rally (rally-o): …trials and often called “rally obedience.” As in obedience trials, heelwork and basic commands (such as sit, stay, and come) are key, but many more skills are tested in rally. Additionally, instead of taking directions from a judge, competitors (animal and handler) navigate a preset course on their own,…

Côte d’Ivoire: Return to normalcy: Also in 2018, Ouattara’s RDR and most of the other parties in the ruling RHDP coalition agreed to transform the coalition into a new party. Bédié’s PDCI rejected the proposal, however, largely because the RDR had dismissed the PDCI’s insistence that it was the PDCI’s turn to field the…

Rally for the Republic: …when de Gaulle organized the Rally of the French People (Rassemblement du Peuple Français; RPF), originally conceived as a means by which de Gaulle might regain office without having to participate in party politics. It was thus at first organized as an extraparliamentary body in the hope that it might…

Guinea: Conté’s death, 2008 military coup, and 2010 elections: …leader Alpha Condé of the Rally of the Guinean People (Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen; RPG), who received 18 percent—progressed to a runoff election. After some delay, the second round of voting was finally held on November 7, 2010. Provisional results, which were announced more than a week later, indicated that…

Togo: Togo under Étienne Gnassingbé Eyadéma: …by President Eyadéma and the Rally of the Togolese People (Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais; RPT). Legislative elections were held again in 1985.

Stephen Colbert: …Colbert and Stewart hosted the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear at the Mall in Washington, D.C. More than 200,000 people attended the nationally televised rally, which was a satirical response to the “Restoring Honor” rally held by conservative media personality Glenn Beck the previous August. Although it was primarily…

dog sports: Obedience and rally (rally-o): …trials and often called “rally obedience.” As in obedience trials, heelwork and basic commands (such as sit, stay, and come) are key, but many more skills are tested in rally. Additionally, instead of taking directions from a judge, competitors (animal and handler) navigate a preset course on their own,…

rally, automobile competition over a specified public route with a driver and navigator attempting to keep to a predetermined schedule between checkpoints. The course is generally unknown to contestants until the start of the rally. Such competition began in 1907 with a Beijing-to-Paris event of

Kirsten Ralov was a Danish dancer, ballet teacher, and, from 1978 to 1988, associate artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Ralov began studying in Vienna but soon moved with her Danish parents to Copenhagen, where she was accepted (1928) into the Royal Danish Ballet School with her brother,

Kirsten Ralov was a Danish dancer, ballet teacher, and, from 1978 to 1988, associate artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Ralov began studying in Vienna but soon moved with her Danish parents to Copenhagen, where she was accepted (1928) into the Royal Danish Ballet School with her brother,

antiestrogen: (SERMs), such as tamoxifen and raloxifene, produce estrogen action in those tissues (e.g., bone, brain, liver) where that action is beneficial and have either no effect or an antagonistic effect in tissues, such as the breast and uterus, where estrogen action may be harmful. Tamoxifen is used in the prevention…

Hugo Gernsback: …that later became the novel Ralph 124C 41+ (1925). Set in the 27th century, its plot is a rather formulaic pulp adventure, but the book’s richly imagined future, filled with fantastic inventions and spaceship travel, established many of the conventions that came to characterize science fiction.

Gal Gadot: …of Shank in the animated Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018). Gadot returned to the action and thriller genre playing a world-class art thief in Red Notice (2021). She also starred in a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s mystery Death on the Nile, directed by Kenneth Branagh and…

Ranulf de Blundeville, 6th earl of Chester was the most celebrated of the early earls of Chester, with whom the family fortunes reached their peak. Ranulf succeeded his father Hugh de Kevelioc (1147–81), son of Ranulf, the 4th earl, in 1181 and was created Earl of Lincoln in 1217. He married

Ranulf de Gernons, 4th earl of Chester was the 4th earl of Chester and a key participant in the English civil war (from 1139) between King Stephen and the Holy Roman empress Matilda (also a claimant to the throne of England). Initially taking Matilda’s part, he fought for her in the Battle of

Ralph Of Coggeshall was an English chronicler of the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Ralph was a monk of the Cistercian abbey at Coggeshall, Essex, and abbot there from 1207 until 1218, when he resigned because of ill health. The abbey already possessed its own Chronicon Anglicanum, beginning

Australian literature: The century after settlement: James Tucker’s Ralph Rashleigh; or, The Life of an Exile (written in 1844; published in an edited version in 1929 and in its original text in 1952), on the other hand, makes use of all the sensational opportunities at hand. It begins as a picaresque account of…

Nicholas Udall: …be assigned to him is Ralph Roister Doister. This must have been written, and probably was performed, about 1553. The play marks the emergence of English comedy from the medieval morality plays, interludes, and farces. It is modeled on Terence and Plautus: its central idea—of a braggart soldier-hero, with an…

Sultry heat and pelting rain turned the road through the exhibition grounds into “a sea of liquid mud,” marring the 1908 Olympics, according to the The Times of London. A much greater problem, however, was bitter partisanship that had emerged between the United States and Great Britain. The

Ralph Stanley: …he released the solo album Ralph Stanley, a collection of spirituals and murder ballads that featured the production talents of American songwriter and performer T-Bone Burnett. That same year “O Death,” an unaccompanied vocal from the soundtrack for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), won Stanley his first…

Ralston Purina Company, former American manufacturer of cereals, packaged foods, pet food, and livestock feed. A merger with Nestlé in December 2001 created Nestlé Purina PetCare Company. The company—initially called the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company—was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in

Belmont: …known for its association with William C. Ralston, a Bank of California magnate who in 1866 transformed Count Leonetto Cipriani’s hillside villa into an ornate, rambling mansion; Ralston’s home is now the main building of Notre Dame de Namur University (founded 1851 in San Jose, moved 1923). Belmont became a…

Venda: Ralu Vhimba is the deity traditionally recognized.

Melanesian languages: …on Santa Isabel (Ysabel Island); Tolai, a widely used missionary language in New Britain and New Ireland; Yabêm and Graged, lingua francas of the Lutheran Mission in the Madang region of Papua New Guinea; and Mota, a widely used lingua franca and literary language of the Melanesian Mission in northern…

Aries, in astronomy, zodiacal constellation in the northern sky lying between Pisces and Taurus, at about 3 hours right ascension and 20° north declination. Aries contains no very bright stars; the brightest star, Hamal (Arabic for “sheep”), has a magnitude of 2.0. The first point of Aries, or

ram, appurtenance fixed to the front end of a fighting vessel and designed to damage enemy ships when struck by it. It was possibly first developed by the Egyptians as early as 1200 bc, but its importance was most clearly emphasized in Phoenician, Greek, and Roman galleys (seagoing vessels

goat: Male goats, called bucks or billys, usually have a beard. Females are called does or nannys, and immature goats are called kids. Wild goats include the ibex and markhor.

Paul McCartney: Wings and solo career: …solo albums, McCartney (1970) and Ram (1971), before forming the band Wings with his wife Linda (formerly Linda Eastman), an American photographer and musician whom he had married in 1969. He wanted her with him at all times, and having her on stage solved many of the problems that befall…

sheep: Male sheep are called rams, the females ewes, and immature animals lambs. Mature sheep weigh from about 35 to as much as 180 kg (80 to 400 pounds). To browse sheep by breed, see below.

RAM, computer main memory in which specific contents can be accessed (read or written) directly by the central processing unit in a very short time regardless of the sequence (and hence location) in which they were recorded. Two types of memory are possible with random-access circuits: static RAM

Ramallah, town in the West Bank, adjacent to the town of Al-Bīrah (east) and north of Jerusalem. Administered as part of the British mandate of Palestine (1920–48), Ramallah was part of the West Bank territory taken by Arab forces in the first of the Arab-Israeli wars (1948–49) and subsequently

Bābur: Victories in India: …garden, now known as the Ram Bagh, by the Yamuna (Jumna) River.

Ram Dass was an American spiritual leader, psychologist, and writer who was influential in the New Age movement. Born Richard Alpert, he spent much of his early career developing a reputation as an academic psychologist. In the early 1960s, alongside Timothy Leary, he began to research psychedelic

jet engine: Low-bypass turbofans and turbojets: …as the engine’s working fluid—the ram effect. At transonic flight speed this pressure ratio is almost 2:1, so that the engine’s compressor may be built to provide that much less pressure where peak pressure is otherwise limiting.

Hindu Kush: Physiography: …Verān (15,400 feet [4,694 metres]), Rām Gol (15,400 feet [4,694 metres]), and Anjoman (13,850 feet [4,221 metres])—are high, making transmontane communications difficult.

India: V.P. Singh’s coalition—its brief rise and fall: …a more ancient Hindu temple, Ram Janmabhoomi, was supposed to have stood. In the fall of 1990 a mass march of Hindus bearing consecrated bricks to rebuild “Rama’s birth temple” won the support of most members of Advani’s BJP, as well as of many other Hindus throughout India. V.P. Singh…

Dussehra: Ram Lila and the burning of Ravana effigies: In North India, it incorporates Ram Lila, a gala theatrical enactment of Rama’s life story. Effigies of Ravana—often along with those of Meghnada (Ravana’s son) and Kumbhkarana (Ravana’s brother)—are stuffed with firecrackers and set ablaze at dusk in open fields.

Ram Mandir, Ayodhya, a grand Hindu temple inaugurated on January 22, 2024, at a site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram. The site is where the Babri Masjid, a Mughal-era mosque, stood until December 6, 1992, when Hindu activists destroyed the

Rama Navami, festival in Hinduism that celebrates the birthday of the god Rama, hero of the Ramayana and seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Rama Navami (“ninth of Rama”) occurs on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar (March–April on the Gregorian calendar). It is also the

Rama Navami, festival in Hinduism that celebrates the birthday of the god Rama, hero of the Ramayana and seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Rama Navami (“ninth of Rama”) occurs on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar (March–April on the Gregorian calendar). It is also the

airspeed indicator: …the craft’s forward motion (ram pressure); as speed increases, the difference between these pressures increases as well.

Rām Rāiyā: …Rām Rāiyās are descendants of Rām Rāī, the eldest son of Gurū Har Rāī (1630–61), who was sent by his father as an emissary to the Mughal capital at Delhi. There he won the confidence of the emperor Aurangzeb but the displeasure of his own father, who when choosing the…

Rām Rāiyā, member of a group of dissenters within Sikhism, a religion of India. The Rām Rāiyās are descendants of Rām Rāī, the eldest son of Gurū Har Rāī (1630–61), who was sent by his father as an emissary to the Mughal capital at Delhi. There he won the confidence of the emperor Aurangzeb but the

Ram Singh was a Sikh philosopher and reformer and the first Indian to use noncooperation and boycott of British merchandise and services as a political weapon. As a young man, he became a disciple of Balak Singh, the founder of the austere Namdhari movement, from whom he learned of the great Sikh

Ram Mandir, Ayodhya, a grand Hindu temple inaugurated on January 22, 2024, at a site in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India, believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram. The site is where the Babri Masjid, a Mughal-era mosque, stood until December 6, 1992, when Hindu activists destroyed the

industrial truck: Ram trucks have a single protruding ram for handling coiled material. The crane truck is a portable boom crane mounted on an industrial truck; it may be used with hooks, grabs, and slings for bundled or coiled material. The straddle truck resembles a gantry crane…

false scorpion: …may show protrusible structures (“ram’s horns”) on the belly.

Jagjivan Ram was an Indian politician, government official, and longtime leading spokesman for the Dalits (formerly untouchables; officially called Scheduled Castes), a low-caste Hindu social class in India. He served in the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of the Indian parliament) for more than 40 years.

air-cushion machine: History: These vehicles are known as ram-wing craft.

Central America: Pre-Columbian Central America: Sumo, Rama, and other tribes on the Nicaraguan and Honduran Caribbean shores have survived to the present.

Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, considered the epitome of moral virtue and royal conduct. Although there are three Ramas mentioned in Indian tradition—Parashurama, Balarama, and Ramachandra—the name is specifically associated with Ramachandra, the seventh incarnation (avatar)

India: Breakup of the empire: …surviving member of the dynasty, Rama Deva Raya, finally ascended the throne in 1617. His reign was marked by factional warfare and the constant struggle to maintain a much-truncated kingdom along the eastern coast. Although some chieftains continued to recognize his nominal suzerainty and that of his successor, Venkata III…

Rama I was a Siamese king (1782–1809) and founder of the Chakkri dynasty (q.v.), which reigns in Thailand. (Read Sir Walter Scott’s 1824 Britannica essay on chivalry.) Rama I was the son of a high court official and his part-Chinese wife. At the time of the Burmese invasion of Siam in 1766–67, he

Rama II was the second ruler (1809–24) of the present Chakkri dynasty, under whose rule relations were reopened with the West and Siam began a forward policy on the Malay peninsula. A gifted poet and dramatist, Rama II wrote a famous version of Inao, a dramatic version of a popular traditional

Rama III was the king of Siam (1824–51) who made Siam’s first tentative accommodations with the West, and under whom the country’s boundaries reached their maximum extent. Rama III was the eldest son of King Rama II by a royal concubine, and in his youth he was given responsibility for overseeing

Mongkut was the king of Siam (1851–68) who opened his country to Western influence and initiated reforms and modern development. Mongkut was the 43rd child of King Rama II, but as the first son to be born of a queen he was favoured to succeed to the throne. When his father died in 1824, however,

Bhumibol Adulyadej ninth king of the Chakkri dynasty (1950–2016), which has ruled or reigned in Thailand from 1782, and Thailand’s longest-serving monarch. He was a grandson of King Chulalongkorn and was born while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying at Harvard University. His

marsh frog: The pool frog (R. lessonae) is the other species of European aquatic frogs. They may interbreed with marsh frogs to produce a hybrid form called the European edible frog (R. esculenta). Male and female edible frogs may breed with males and females of either R. ridibunda…

Rama Navami, festival in Hinduism that celebrates the birthday of the god Rama, hero of the Ramayana and seventh avatar of the god Vishnu. Rama Navami (“ninth of Rama”) occurs on the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in the Hindu calendar (March–April on the Gregorian calendar). It is also the

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao was an Indian motion-picture actor and director, politician, and government official who founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and served three terms (1983–84; 1984–89; and 1994–95) as chief minister (head of government) of Andhra Pradesh state in southeastern India. As an

India: Successors to the Bahmanī: …successful interventions by Vijayanagar under Rama Raya, a regent who finally usurped the Vijayanagar throne and played a significant role in Deccan politics. The excesses of Rama Raya, carried out on the pretext of assisting Bijapur against Ahmadnagar in their wars, led to a temporary but fruitful coalition among the…

Ramatirtha was a Hindu religious leader known for the highly personal and poetic manner in which he taught what he styled “Practical Vedanta,” using common experiences to illustrate the divine nature of man. For Ramatirtha, any object whatever could be approached as a “mirror to God.” Educated at

Chulalongkorn was the king of Siam who avoided colonial domination and embarked upon far-reaching reforms. Chulalongkorn was the ninth son of King Mongkut, but since he was the first to be born to a royal queen, he was recognized as heir to the throne. He was only 15 years old when his father died

India: The south: Travancore and Mysore: …large measure by Martanda’s successor, Rama Varma (ruled 1758–98), who was able, moreover, to defend his kingdom successfully against a dangerous new rival power—Mysore.

Vajiravudh was the king of Siam from 1910 to 1925, noted for his progressive reforms and prolific writings. Vajiravudh was educated at the University of Oxford, where he read history and law; he also received military training at Sandhurst and served briefly with the British Army. Having been named

Prajadhipok was the last absolute king of Siam (1925–35), under whose rule the Thai revolution of 1932 instituted the constitutional monarchy. Prajadhipok never expected to succeed to the throne. He was the 32nd and last son of King Chulalongkorn, the youngest of five sons by Queen Saowabha. When

Ananda Mahidol was the eighth king of the Chakkri dynasty of Siam, whose mysterious death was one of the most traumatic events in the history of modern Thailand. Ananda was only 10 years old and a schoolboy in Switzerland when he succeeded his uncle, King Prajadhipok, in 1935. World War II

Southeast Asian arts: Golden age of literature: …Thai importations and wrote the Rama Yagan, in which the high romance and courtly elegance of the 4th-century-bc Ramayana (“The Life of Rama”) were given a rustic setting, with hilarious results. From the quiet of their monasteries, the monk Awbatha wrote a novel-like rendering of the Ten Long Jatakas and…

Adam’s Bridge, chain of shoals between Mannar Island, off the northwest coast of Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram Island, off the southeast coast of India. The “bridge” is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry,

Kampan: …is the epic Irāmāvatāram (Rama’s Incarnation).

Carol Rama was a self-taught Italian artist who achieved great public success later in life with her evocative and psychologically intense depictions of women that celebrated an overt eroticism. Rama was the youngest daughter of Amabile Rama, a small-scale manufacturer in Turin’s bicycle and

Albania: Democratic Albania: …led by former Tirana mayor Edi Rama, captured a sizable majority of seats in parliament, and Berisha, who had been the dominant figure in Albanian politics since the fall of communism, conceded defeat. In 2014 Albania was granted candidate status for accession to the EU, but the country’s progress toward…

Carol Rama was a self-taught Italian artist who achieved great public success later in life with her evocative and psychologically intense depictions of women that celebrated an overt eroticism. Rama was the youngest daughter of Amabile Rama, a small-scale manufacturer in Turin’s bicycle and

Malayalam literature: …earliest extant literary work is Ramacharitam (late 12th or early 13th century). In the subsequent period, besides a popular pattu (song) literature, there flourished a literature of mainly erotic poetry composed in the Manipravalam style, an admixture of Malayalam and Sanskrit.

Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty: …was succeeded by his son Ramabhadra about 833, who after a brief reign was succeeded by his son Mihira Bhoja about 836. Under Bhoja and his successor Mahendrapala (reigned c. 890–910), the Pratihara empire reached its peak of prosperity and power. The extent of its territory rivaled that of the…

computer: The IBM Personal Computer: …computer disk storage system, the RAMAC, which showed off its capabilities by answering world history questions in 10 languages at the 1958 World’s Fair. From 1956 to 1971 IBM sales had grown from $900 million to $8 billion, and its number of employees had increased from 72,500 to 270,000. IBM…

Rama, one of the most widely worshipped Hindu deities, considered the epitome of moral virtue and royal conduct. Although there are three Ramas mentioned in Indian tradition—Parashurama, Balarama, and Ramachandra—the name is specifically associated with Ramachandra, the seventh incarnation (avatar)

South Asian arts: The mahākāvya: …by mahākāvya writers is the Rāmacarita (“Deeds of Rāma”), by the 12th-century poet Sandhyākāra, which celebrates simultaneously the hero-god Rāma and the poet’s own king, Rāmapāla of Bengal. Many other works were written in this style, and, even today, one may encounter a mahākāvya treatment of a great man such…

South Asian arts: Period of the Tamil Cōḷa Empire (10th–13th century): The best known pāṭṭu is Rāmacaritam (c. 12th–13th century; “Deeds of Rāma”), probably the earliest Malayalam work written in a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam. Other pāṭṭus in Tamilized Malayalam, written by a family of poets (14th–15th centuries) from Niraṇam in central Travancore, appear in Kaṇṇassan Pāṭṭukaḷ, in which Tamil…

Yadava dynasty: …of the last Yadava king, Ramachandra (reigned 1271–c. 1309), a Muslim army commanded by the Delhi sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Khaljī invaded the kingdom in 1294 and imposed tributary status. A later attempt to throw off the vassalage brought another Delhi army; Ramachandra was imprisoned but was later released and remained…

Jayalalithaa Jayaram: Entry into politics: …two factions, with Ramachandran’s wife, Janaki Ramachandran, and Jayalalithaa leading rival groups. In February 1989 the rift was resolved, and the factions merged after Ramachandran retired from politics. Jayalalithaa then became the leader of the party and was elected to the state legislative assembly, where she led the opposition against…

M.G. Ramachandran was an Indian actor and politician who was chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987, with a brief interregnum from February 17 to June 9, 1980, when Tamil Nadu came under President’s Rule and the central government assumed control of the state. Popularly known as MGR, he was

M.G. Ramachandran was an Indian actor and politician who was chief minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 to 1987, with a brief interregnum from February 17 to June 9, 1980, when Tamil Nadu came under President’s Rule and the central government assumed control of the state. Popularly known as MGR, he was

Ramadan, in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting. It begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon. Because the Muslim calendar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier each year, allowing it to fall in

Ramadan, in Islam, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and the holy month of fasting. It begins and ends with the appearance of the crescent moon. Because the Muslim calendar year is shorter than the Gregorian calendar year, Ramadan begins 10–12 days earlier each year, allowing it to fall in

Yom Kippur War, fourth of the Arab-Israeli wars, which was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. It also occurred during Ramadan, the sacred month of fasting in Islam, and it lasted until October 26, 1973. The war, which eventually drew both the

Ramananda was a North Indian Brahman (priest), held by his followers (Ramanandis) to be fifth in succession in the lineage of the philosopher-mystic Ramanuja. According to his hagiography (saint’s life), Ramananda left home as a youth and became a sannyasi (ascetic) before settling in Varanasi

Al-Ramādī, city, capital of Al-Anbār muḥāfaẓah (governorate), central Iraq. It lies on the Euphrates River just northwest of Lake Al-Ḥabbāniyyah. Ancient settlements existed in the vicinity, but Al-Ramādī was founded only in 1869 to encourage settlement by the then nomadic Dulaym tribes. The town

Paul Ramadier was the first premier (January–November 1947) of the Fourth Republic of France. After receiving his doctorate in law from the University of Paris, Ramadier became an advocate at the Paris Court of Appeals. He became mayor of Decazeville in 1919 and represented Villefranche-de-Rouergue

pre-Columbian civilizations: Social and political organization: …group called by anthropologists a ramage, or a conical clan. This is a group with a myth of common descent, divided into ranked senior and junior lineages based on the seniority of older versus younger brother in the group genealogy. In support of this reconstruction is the statement that the…

Ramayana, shorter of the two great epic poems of India, the other being the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”). The Ramayana was composed in Sanskrit, probably not before 300 bce, by the poet Valmiki, according to widely accepted Hindu tradition. Two major Indian festivals celebrate

Ramakrishna was a Hindu religious leader, founder of the school of religious thought that became the Ramakrishna Order. Born into a poor Brahman (the highest-ranking social class) family, Ramakrishna had little formal schooling. He spoke Bengali and knew neither English nor Sanskrit. His father

Ramakrishna Mission, Hindu religious society that carries out extensive educational and philanthropic work in India and expounds a modern version of Advaita Vedanta—a school of Indian philosophy—in Western countries. It and its sister organization, the Ramakrishna Math, constitute two different but

Kolkata: Architecture: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, the most important example of postindependence construction, follows the style of ancient Hindu palace architecture in northwestern India.

Ramakrishna Mission: …with its sister organization, the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, it operates a number of centres in different parts of India. Several Ramakrishna Mission centres specifically serving women were turned over to the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission.

Venki Ramakrishnan is an Indian-born physicist and molecular biologist who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, along with American biophysicist and biochemist Thomas Steitz and Israeli protein crystallographer Ada Yonath, for his research into the atomic structure and function of