Ranka

The Ranka are an ethnic group belonging to the Marwari community of Rajasthan.

The history of Ranka is related with two key persons. Kaku and Pata were two Goud rajputs, residing in city Vallabhi (Saurashtra). When Vallabhi was destroyed, they settled in Marwar. In their 5th generation were Ranka and Banka. Both the brothers were farmers in a village near Pali.

When Acharya Shri Jinvallabh Suri arrived in the village they also went to listen the sermon with the villagers. They were impressed and became Jain. As per the instructions of the Acharya they left the farming and started business. They both earned wealth and fame.

Acharya Shri Jindutt Suri made them Oswals in VS 1185 and their gotras were named Ranka and Banka.

SETH, SETHIA:- Once the king of Sidhpur, Pattan needed a loan. These two brothers gave a loan of 65 lacks in golden coins, so the king honoured them with the titles 'SETH' and 'SETHIA' and gave them the right to wear gold crowns. Hence they were named Ranka-Seth and Banka-Sethia.

Chasselas

Chasselas or Chasselas blanc is a wine grape variety grown in Switzerland, France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary, Romania and New Zealand. Chasselas is mostly vinified to be a full, dry and fruity white wine. It is also suitable as a table grape, grown widely for this purpose in Turkey.

History

Theories of its origin vary. Pierre Galet believes it is a native Swiss variety.

In 1940, Chasselas was crossed with Silvaner to produce the white grape variety Nobling.

Wine regions

Widely grown in the cantons of Switzerland where it has several regional synonym names, the main one being Fendant in the Valais canton. It is considered an ideal pairing for raclette or fondue. Chasselas is also known as Perlan in the Mandement district of Geneva. In 2009, it was Switzerland's second most grown grape variety at 4,013 hectares (9,920 acres).

In Germany with 1,123 hectares (2,770 acres), it is almost exclusively grown in the wine region of Baden under the name Gutedel.

In France it is mostly grown in the Loire region where it is converted into a blend with Sauvignon blanc called "Pouilly-sur-Loire". California and Australian growers know this variety under the alias names of Chasselas Dore or Golden Chasselas.

Ranka (legend)

Lan Ke (爛柯, Làn Kē, or The Rotten Axe Handle in English), is a Chinese legend which has been compared to that of Rip Van Winkle, although it predates it by at least a 1000 years. The exact date of origin of the legend is unknown, but it has literary antecedents from the 5th century AD, and the "rotten axe handle" plot element was certainly present by an early 6th century version.

Another plot element of the legend features two immortals playing a board game, interpreted in later times as Go, so that Lan Ke has become a literary name for Go. It is through this connection that the name "Ranka", which is the Japanese pronunciation of "Lan Ke", entered the English language.

Literary evolution

The early 4th century compilation of legends and occult tales Yiyuan (異苑) by official Liu Jingshu (劉敬叔) recorded a tale about a traveller riding a horse, who saw two elderly men by the side of the road playing shupu (樗蒲), a race game, and got off his horse to watch. In the middle of the game he glanced at his horse and was astonished to see that it had turned to a skeleton. When he returned home, he found that all of his family were gone. The 4th century Dongyang Ji (東陽記) by Zheng Qizhi recorded a slightly different version: a man named Wang Zhi went to Mount Shishi, in Zhejiang, to chop wood, and stopped when he heard four youths singing. The youths gave him food that looked like date cores. He ate them, and was not hungry. By the time the youths finished singing, and he started on his way home, he noticed that his axe handle had rotted. When he returned home, he realised that decades had past. The Dongyang Ji version was quoted by Li Daoyuan's influential 6th century work Commentary on the Water Classic, which made the story famous. Still later, 6th century author Ren Fang's Tales of the Strange (述異記) reworked the story once again, so that the youths were playing a board game and singing, although he did not specifically mention Go.