RAMADAN, the ninth month in the Mohammedan year. In it Mohammed received his first revelation, and every believer is therefore enjoined to keep a strict fast throughout its entire course, from the dawn—when a white thread can be distinguished from a black thread—to sunset. During the night, however, the most necessary wants may be satisfied—a permission which, practically, is interpreted by a profuse indulgence in all sorts of enjoyments. The sick, travelers, and soldiers in time of war are temporarily released from this duty, but they have to fast an equal number of days at a subsequent period when this impediment is removed. Nurses, pregnant women, and those to whom it might prove really injurious are expressly exempt from fasting.
RÁMÁYANA, the name of one of the two great epic poems of ancient India (the other, see Mahabharata). Its subject matter is the history of Ráma, and its reputed author is Valmiki, who is said to have taught his poem to the two sons of Ráma. But though this latter account is open to doubt, it seems certain that Valmiki was a real personage, and, moreover, that the Rámáyana was the work of one single poet—not, like the Mahábhárata, the creation of various epochs and different minds. As a poetical composition the Rámáyana is therefore far superior to the Mahábhárata; and it may be called the best great poem of ancient India. Whereas the character of the Mahábhárata is cyclopædic, its main subject matter overgrown by episodes of the most diversified nature, the Rámáyana has but one object in view, the history of Ráma. Its episodes are rare, and restricted to the early portion of the work, and its poetical diction betrays throughout the same finish and the same poetical genius. Whether we apply as the test the aspect of the religious life, or the geographical and other knowledge displayed in the two works, the Rámáyana appears the older. It is the chief source whence our information of the Ráma incarnation of Vishnu is derived. The Rámáyana contains professedly 24,000 epic verses, or "Slokas," in seven books—some 48,000 lines of 16 syllables. The text which has come down to us exhibits, in different sets of manuscripts, such considerable discrepancies that there are practically two recensions. The one is more concise in its diction and has less tendency than the other to that kind of descriptive enlargement of facts and sentiments which characterizes the later poetry of India; it often also exhibits grammatical forms and peculiarities of an archaic stamp, where the other studiously avoids that which must have appeared to its editors in the light of grammatical difficulty. There can be little doubt that the former is the older and more genuine text.
RAMBAUD, ALFRED NICOLAS, a French historian; born in Besançon, Doubs, France, July 2, 1842. Of his works the most important is the "History of French Civilization" (3 vols. 1885), which is used as a text-book in nearly all universities. His other publications include: "French Domination in Germany, 1792-1804" (1874); "Germany Under Napoleon I." (1874); "The French and the Russians," etc., (1877); "History of Russia" (1878); "History of Civilization in France" (1887). He died Nov. 10, 1905.
RAMBOUILLET, CATHERINE DE VIVONNE, MARQUISE DE, a French social leader; born in Rome, Italy, in 1588. In 1600, when only 12 years old, she married Charles d'Angennes, son of the Marquis de Rambouillet, to whose title and estates he succeeded on the death of the latter in 1611. Her residence at Paris, the Hôtel Rambouillet, for more than 50 years formed the center of a circle which exercised great influence on French language, literature, and civilization. She died in Paris in 1665.
RAMEAU, JEAN PHILIPPE, a French musician; born in Dijon, Sept. 25, 1683. At 18 he went to Milan, but soon returned to France, to Paris, Lille, and Clermont in Auvergne. Here he acted as organist to the cathedral, and wrote his "Treatise on Harmony" (1722). Removing to Paris, he published "Modern System" (1726); "Harmonic Generation" (1737), and "Modern Reflections" (1752). In 1733, at the mature age of 50, he produced his first opera, "Hippolyte and Aricie," the libretto of which was written by the Abbé Pellegrin. It created a great sensation. Rameau's best opera was "Castor and Pollux," produced at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1737. Between 1733 and 1760 he composed 21 operas and ballets, as well as numerous harpsichord pieces. Louis XV. created for him the office of composer of chamber music, granted him letters of nobility, and named him a Chevalier de St. Michel. Rameau died Sept. 12, 1764.
RAMÉE, LOUISE DE LA. See Ouida.
RAMESES, or RAMSES, the name of several Egyptian monarchs; the name signifies "born of the sun," or the "nascent sun." The family is supposed to have been of Theban origin, and to have been descended from one of the later
