Rana (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''Rāṇā'', ) is an historical royal title from the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, where it is today used as a hereditary name. "Rana" was formerly used as a title of martial

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

by Rajput kings in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The term derives from the Sanskrit title "Rāṇaka". Rani is the title for the wife of a rana or a female monarch. It also applies to the wife of a

raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

. Compound titles include ''rana sahib'', ''ranaji'', ''raj rana,'' ''rana bahadur'', and ''

maharana The Maharana ("Great Rana") is a variation on the Indian royal title Rana. Maharana denotes ' great king' or ' high king', similar to the word " Maharaja". The term derives from the Sanskrit title "Mahārāṇaka". Usage at the time of independ ...

''.

Usage in the Indian subcontinent

"Rana" was formerly used as a title of martial

by Rajput kings in

. Sisodia rulers of Mewar used the title of Mahārāṇā (महाराणा) extensively in their royal charters. Today, members of some Rajput clans in

use it as a hereditary title. In

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, mostly

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

—but also some

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

(present-day Pakistan)—use it as a hereditary title. Amarkot, a state in Sindh, has a Hindu Thakur Sodha Rajput ruler who uses the title. In the 16th century, Rana Prasad, the monarch of Amarkot, gave refuge to the Mughal prince Humayun and his wife, Hamida Banu Begum, who had fled from military defeat at the hands of Sher Shah Suri. Their son Akbar was born in the fort of the Rana of Amarkot. Maharaj Jung London 1850 AD

The head of the Kunwar nobles of Nepal, Jung Bahadur Kunwar, took the title of Rana(ji) and Shree Teen

Maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...

after consolidation of his post of Prime Minister of Nepal. This dynasty controlled administration of the Kingdom of Nepal from 1846 until 1951, reducing the Shah monarch to a figurehead and making

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and other government positions hereditary.

As a title

As a title, Rana is used by different Rajput clans across India, Pakistan and Nepal. In India and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, they are predominantly Hindus.

Rana rule in Nepal

The Rana rule in Nepal from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s saw a whole century of oppression of Nepalese who became Buddhist monks. The first victims were Nepalese Mahayana (Tibetans) who converted to Buddhism, then Theravada Buddhism in the " History of Theravada Buddhism in Nepal" to stop their discriminatory practices.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rana Royal titles Titles in India Titles of national or ethnic leadership Cultural history of India