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Glite Dictionary
raj

raj

1 7.6
A period of British rule in India from 1757 to 1947
  • noun
  • /rɑːdʒ/
: raj
  • The poor still live under the draconian license-permit-quota raj, as the system of extensive government intervention in India is known.
  • license raj
  • permit raj

I call this the Days of the Raj.

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Examples

  • I grew up with the Raj, with British people thinking that they were so superior to Indians.

  • Uh, blemishes of the British raj... there are certain points which I now wish to clarify.

    The Householder (1963)

  • It did not have to degenerate into a "license-permit-quota raj," as Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari first put it in the late 1950s.

    Academic text (2006)

  • Instead, the license-permit raj became the means through which small groups of businesspeople, landed farmers, and politicians were able to accumulate wealth at the expense of the majority.

    Academic text (1997)

  • The British raj lasted nearly 200 years, profoundly influencing India's culture and society.

  • Many historians study the impacts of the raj on India's economy and governance.

  • The struggle for independence from the British raj was marked by significant social and political movements.

Surface Forms

raj singular
rajs plural

Etymology

The word raj comes from the Hindi rāj, which goes back to the Sanskrit rājan, meaning 'king' or 'rule'. The British used raj to name their period of rule in India, so raj now means the British rule in India from 1757 to 1947, similar to the English word 'reign'.