Rajgira in English, Hindi and Indian languages (amaranth names)

One name per language, exactly as IFCT 2017 records them: Hindi ramdana; Marathi cavali biya; Gujarati rajagaro; Punjabi chaulali beej; Odia kosala sag maji kale; Assamese moricha guti; Kannada danthu beeja; Telugu thotakoora ginjalu; Tamil keerai vidai; Malayalam cheera vithu. In English the same tables name the seed 'Amaranth seed, pale brown', and the botanical name is Amaranthus cruentus.

That is ten Indian languages with a recorded name, the full count in IFCT 2017's list for food code A002; Bengali, Urdu and Sanskrit are left blank there. The table below carries all of them.

Source: IFCT 2017 (ICMR-NIN) local-names list. — means no name recorded in the source.

Rajgira in English is amaranth, and more precisely amaranth seed: IFCT 2017 lists the grain as 'Amaranth seed, pale brown' under food code A002. The black-seeded amaranth is a separate entry in the same tables, so the pale-brown wording is how this seed is told apart from that one.

The amaranth scientific name is Amaranthus cruentus. A Journal of Food Science review from 2012 calls it a highly nutritional pseudocereal with a superior amount of protein compared with true cereals such as wheat or rice.

Ramdana in English is the same grain: ramdana is the Hindi name IFCT 2017 records, and rajgira atta in English is amaranth flour, the milled seed. Whole or milled, one grain under many names.

North India: ramdana in Hindi, chaulali beej in Punjabi

IFCT 2017 records ramdana for Hindi; the rajgira of the title above is the everyday form of the same grain. Punjabi has chaulali beej.

West India: rajagaro in Gujarati, cavali biya in Marathi

Amaranth in Gujarati is rajagaro, the name IFCT 2017 records; the Marathi name in the same list is cavali biya.

East India: kosala sag maji kale in Odia, moricha guti in Assamese

Odia carries kosala sag maji kale and Assamese moricha guti; IFCT 2017 records no Bengali name for this grain.

South India: danthu beeja, thotakoora ginjalu, keerai vidai, cheera vithu

Kannada has danthu beeja, Telugu thotakoora ginjalu, Tamil keerai vidai and Malayalam cheera vithu. One caution on 'amaranth meaning in hindi': the word can point at the leafy vegetable of the same plant, which ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines list among the green leafy vegetables; the names on this page belong to the seed.

Four names get mixed up with rajgira in shops and in searches.

• Quinoa: a different seed. IFCT 2017 lists quinoa under its own food code, and ICAR-IIMR's millets bulletin names amaranth and quinoa side by side among the gluten-free grains that may help people who avoid wheat, barley and rye foods. Rajgira is not quinoa.
• Ragi: finger millet, a millet with its own regional names. Rajgira is amaranth, a pseudocereal, so the two are different grains.
• Kuttu: buckwheat, the third gluten-free grain ICAR-IIMR's bulletin groups with amaranth and quinoa. Kuttu atta and rajgira atta come from different seeds.
• Kangni: ICAR-IIMR's list gives kangni as a Punjabi name for foxtail millet, a different small grain.

For the numbers behind these grains, see rajgira nutrition per 100g; the grain itself, from benefits to storage, is on the rajgira hub page.

Rajgira atta in English is amaranth flour: the pale seed milled fine. The whole seed is what IFCT 2017 measures - 356 kcal, 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g - and the flour is the same grain ground. Popped rajgira is a third form of the same seed, and the table above is the whole seed's identity card.

Cook the flour as a rajgira roti, shape the sweet rajgira laddu, or browse the amaranth recipes roundup for more. If weight loss is behind the search, the rajgira for weight loss page runs the calorie arithmetic.

What is rajgira?

Rajgira is amaranth grain, the seed of Amaranthus cruentus, eaten whole, milled as rajgira atta or popped. IFCT 2017 lists it as 'Amaranth seed, pale brown', with 356 kcal, 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g. A 2012 review calls amaranth a highly nutritional pseudocereal with more protein than true cereals.

Is amaranth and rajgira same?

Yes. Rajgira is the everyday Indian name and amaranth the English name for one grain, Amaranthus cruentus. IFCT 2017 records the seed as 'Amaranth seed, pale brown' in English, with ten Indian languages alongside: ramdana in Hindi, rajagaro in Gujarati, keerai vidai in Tamil. The table above carries the full set.

What is rajgira atta?

Rajgira atta is amaranth flour: the pale amaranth seed ground fine, and 'atta' is the Hindi word for flour. IFCT 2017's numbers are for the whole seed - 356 kcal, 13.3 g of protein and 7.5 g of fibre per 100 g - and the flour is the same grain milled. The rajgira roti recipe shows the flour at work.

What is rajgira called in English?

Amaranth, in full amaranth seed: IFCT 2017's food name for it is 'Amaranth seed, pale brown', and the botanical name is Amaranthus cruentus. Rajgira, amaranth and amaranth seed are three ways of saying one grain.

What is amaranth called in gujarati?

Rajagaro, the Gujarati name IFCT 2017 records for amaranth seed, a spelling close to the rajgira of the title above. In Marathi the recorded name is cavali biya and in Punjabi chaulali beej, so each state keeps its own word for the one grain.

Difference between rajgira and quinoa?

They are two different seeds. Rajgira is amaranth, Amaranthus cruentus; quinoa is Chenopodium quinoa, listed under its own food code in IFCT 2017. ICAR-IIMR's bulletin names amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat among the gluten-free grains that may help people who avoid wheat, barley and rye foods, but the two seeds are sold and cooked separately.