[1][a] Raju is a Telugu language variant of the Sanskrit title Raja, a term for a monarch or princely ruler.
[3]In medieval Andhra Pradesh, the title was used in both senses, and was very likely adopted by some secular Brahmins, who occupied important advisory functions.
Talbot also notes that the title, and others in use at that time, do not align with the Vedic four-fold varna system and in that sense could not refer to a caste.
[5] A report published by the Overseas Development Institute in 2002, describing the Rajus of Andhra as an ex-warrior caste, noted that along with the Kapu and Velama they were ...important communities with considerable political significance in the State, although in numerical terms they constitute only a small percentage of the population and spatially are confined only to small pockets.
[6]As of 2002[update] the Rajus constituted less than 1 per cent of the population in Andhra Pradesh, concentrated mainly in the coastal region.