Naja

Naja is a genus of venomous elapid snakes known as cobras. Several other genera include species commonly called cobras (for example the rinkhals, or ring-necked spitting cobra Hemachatus haemachatus), but of all the snakes known by that name, members of the genus Naja are the most widespread and the most widely recognized as cobras. Various species occur in regions throughout Africa, Southwest Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Until recently, the genus Naja had 20 to 22 species, but it has undergone several taxonomic revisions in recent years, so sources vary greatly. Wide support exists, though, for a 2009 revision that synonymised the genera Boulengerina and Paranaja with Naja. According to that revision, the genus Naja now includes 28 species.

Etymology

The origin of this genus name is from the Sanskrit nāga (with a hard "g") meaning "snake". Some hold that the Sanskrit word is cognate with English "snake", Germanic: *snēk-a-, Proto-IE: *(s)nēg-o-, but this is unlikely. Mayrhofer calls this etymology "unglaubhaft ", "not credible", and suggests a more plausible etymology connecting it with Sanskrit nagna, "hairless, naked".

Naja (disambiguation)

Naja is a genus of snakes commonly referred to as cobras.

Naja may also refer to:

Na'ja refers to:

NAJA may refer to:

See also

Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran

Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran or Disciplinary Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: نیروی انتظامی جمهوری اسلامی ایران‎‎), abbreviated as NAJA (Persian: ناجا‎‎) is the uniformed police force in Iran. The force was created in early 1992 by merging the Shahrbani (Persian: شهربانی Šahrbānī‎‎), Gendarmerie (Persian: ژاندارمری Žāndārmerī‎‎) and Committee of Iran (Persian: کمیته Komīte‎‎) into a single force, it has more than 60,000 police personnel served under the Ministry of Interior, including border patrol personnel. The Police-110 unit specializes in rapid-response activities in urban areas and dispersing gatherings deemed dangerous to public order. Marine police have 100 inshore patrol and 50 harbor boats. In 2003, some 400 women became the first female members of the police force since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

History

The Persian Gendarmerie, also called the Government Gendarmerie (ژاندارمری دولتی), was the first modern highway patrol and rural police force in Persia. A paramilitary force, it also played a significant part in politics from its establishment in 1910 during the Qajar dynasty until the advent of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1921. It was active for some time in Pahlavi era. Nazmiyeh (نظمیه) was also a Law Enforcement force in Persia, with police duties inside cities.