Perspectives on India: Politics, Culture, Lifestyles, and Worldviews, Part 1: Charans and Churchill

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More by and about Inder Dan Ratnu:

Perspectives on India, Installment 1: "Charans and Churchill"

Installment 2: "Democrat's Pilgrimage," Heart Burning in Pakistan."

Installment 3: "Prevalence of a Poetic Position," "Clinton v. Churchill"

Installment 4: "Jaswant Singh, Extraordinary Statesman of India;""Churchill: Person of the Century"

Installment 5: "'My Own Man' Kissing 'My Own Wife,'" "An Indian's Advice to American Electorate

Also:

President to Visit India

Preparations for President's Visit

Diplomatic Issues facing Clinton during visit

Clinton & Chelsea in Jaipur (w/photos)

The Afterglow

Plus:

See Inder's weekly column, Indian Ink, @ Tulevision.com

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"CHARANS AND CHURCHILL"

Just as British society operates according to a class system, in India there is a caste-system, which originally was based not upon wealth but upon the functions that individuals carried out in Indian society. There is a caste in India called "Charan" which is predominantly found in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states located in the western parts of India. The concentration of this community is more towards the western parts of the above two states. In Gujarat ‘Charans’ are known as "Gadhvi". "Charan" or "Gadhvi" is a very small community in India. Many people in India use the word "Charan" as synonym of "sychophant" as quite a number of members of this community had actually degenerated to become so. But the real qualities for which the Charans were renowned were quite different from sycophancy. The misuse of the word "Charan" as a synonym of "sycophant" is analogous to the use of the label of "war monger" against the name of Sir Winston Churchill. Neither of these characterizations is correct..

Charan is a community as is known at the places of its predominance- the one between the Brahmins (a teaching community who are considered to be highest among the Hindus) and Rajputs (Kshatriya – the martial community) yet more identifiable with the Rajputs by virtue of their language, dresses, traditions and culture-- simply because most of the Charans are converts from Rajputs, although there are Brahmin converts as well. In ancient times they were the keepers of livestock, particularly the cows – the "cow grazers" as they were known, or in the English tradition, "cowboys". But later in Medieval times they became attached to the ruling classes, particularly the Kshatriya – the Rajputs. The ruling classes embraced them not out of mercy or favour, but in recognition of the very special qualities they had which in turn could be useful to the ruling classes or the martial communities.

The qualities of the Charans for which they were renowned and respected were not sychophancy and flattery but their determination to resist by non violent means, their intellect, their intelligence, their reputations for being veritable walking dictionaries or store houses of information and knowledge, their extra-ordinary command over both poetry and prose, their philosophical leanings and wisdom as men of thoughts, their reputation for friendliness. They were known as "fathers" of Goddesses* as well as devout devotees and ‘sons’ of Goddesses who demonstrated extraordinary loyalty to their masters. They passed along their knowledge of history from generation to generation through the "spoken word." Because they were poets who composed legends using excellent prose, it often happened that the things got overflowed, and, as there was no written record and manual of oration was based upon merely the memory of mind and hearsay, a few false facts crept into the mix, not deliberately to misguide the audience but in the heat of the narrative in order to maintain the tempo of the story or the legend. This, by a cool mind, could always be interpreted as "exaggeration" and also "sychophancy" and hence the enigma of "singers of songs of their masters" or sometimes even their "drum beaters," which in fact was the function of a so-called "lower" community that always remained with the Charans. Say for example if Britain were to surrender to Germany during the Second World War a typical Charan could caution or exhort her leaders in the following words by giving them a poetic form:

"So long as the Towers of the Westminster are standing erect with their heads high behove the skyline of London, so long as the Buckingham Palace stands Majestically on its foundation stones, so long as there is rhythm of water in the river Thames, how can Britain be buckled down? Still, the Magna Carta has not been written off from the pages of history, still fire has not lost the power of heat and burning, still mankind has not stopped its march on the path of progress and civilization, still Christianity has not stopped offering prayers at Churches and still the Sun has not stopped rising in the East, how then can the great British nation even ‘think’ of surrender to Germany or for that matter to any power on the Earth?"

However , in spite of this blot of exaggeration and sycophancy, the Charans had all along been respected for their boldness and fearlessness of expression, for telling the truth regardless of the consequences, for their unflinchable loyalty and sense of sacrifice towards friends and master, for being highly learned (although not always literate) and for having extraordinary mastery over the native (local) language entertaining the courts through their infinite, unending tales and rich poetry and when the crunch came, for using these qualities to exhort and inspire the warrior races into the battles leading them either to victory or perish in the fields for the sake of honour and good cause. This was exactly what Sir Winston Churchill did but on a scale no Charan could ever imagine.

I consider myself fortunate that destiny decided to descend me to Earth as a member of this typical yet a gifted community -- in the heart of the desolate desert of Western India (with a water table as deep as 500 ft.), but with the pride always to walk with a high head and fearlessness, though living under middle class conditions by the local standards.

The traits of Charans’ character could be classified into the following five major categories:

Fearless and Tellers of truth : One of the greatest virtues of charans was to go by the dictates of their conscience regardless of the consequences. They never flinched to tell the truth however bitter it was. For this they had to incur the wrath of the related parties sometimes resulting in their own death. All the same they did not give up the truth.

At occasions they were suitably rewarded also because of this quality. They had in many states enjoyed immunity against punishment (impunity) for their freedom of speech. Even the villages of Charans under Rajput rule were almost "self governing and independent" or "sansan" as they were known within the state -- unliable for levy of any kind of state taxes. The most outstanding example of the fearlessness of Charans’ speech that is often quoted was the incident involving Kaviraja (meaning poetking -a title) Karani Dan Kavia – a courtier Charan of the King of Jodhpur. About three centuries ago at Pushkar (A religious place near Ajmer) he was asked by the Kings of Jodhpur and Jaipur who was greater between them. The poet insisted it was not fair to draw the comparison; but when both the Kings pressed the point he had to come out with the truth.

"In fact, both of you surpass each other – One has killed his own father and the other his own son for the sake of gaining or retaining power. Difficult to under-rate either of you."

If they wished to, the Kings could easily have gotten him killed. But on the contrary, both of them rewarded him for this embarrassing yet literally truthful and bold statement. Mr. Karani Dan Kavia had been earlier accorded a rare honour of riding the elephant while the King of Jodhpur. Mr. Abhay Singh himself rode on the horse back side by side. This rare honour had been given in recognition of his great military talents in suggesting a crucial strategy for winning a victory in a major war against the Muslim King of Ahmedabad Kingdom in Gujarat region -- today the Capital of the modern Gujarat State. A small sketch of the robust Kaviraja Karani Dan is still displayed at the famous fort Mehrangarh of Jodhpur – a place where by the beginning of this century a Royal Army Officer had played some polo matches – an officer with a name that was to become in later years one of the greatest legends of the world – Mr. Winston Spensor Churchill.

While writing of this fearlessness, I cannot help remembering my own grandfather – Mr. Kushal Dan Ratnu who had shown exceptional guts in the face of a mortal danger. A notorious decoit with the name of Ompuri had come to the native village – Bareth ka gaon of Mr. Kushal Dan Ratnu and was almost forcibly taking away the camel of a villager. On being approached by other villagers the old man of around 70 years Mr. Ratnu , who was one of the senior most in the village , tried to explain the consequences of the show of force that the robber was making. When the decoit armed with the gun was not moved by the persuasive arguments Mr. Kushal Dan, unarmed as he was, made a non-violent verbal challenge to the dangerous decoit. He warned the bandit against collecting a vehicle from the village of Charans for committing acts of looting and violence. With this he predicted the death of the decoit -- utterly unmindful of his own which the notorious bandit could easily have brought about by firing a shot from the gun he carried.

By a providential act of coincidence the defamed decoit just after a few days was killed in an armed encounter with the forces acting on a tip given by a Jat (a farmer martial caste) young man who was to in later years become the most famous leader of the local area – Mr. Kharta Ram Chaudhary – a man who fought against the feudal system to work for the poor and who raised the educational institutions where I had the honour to study up to middle school. Mr. Kushal Dan Ratnu lived for years after the incident and the older people of the village still remember the fearlessness of the old man. That small humble peace loving gentleman. Mr. Kushal Dan Ratnu at that time hardly had an idea of another man of around the same age at around the same time across the continents throwing a similar challenge on the world scale to the greatest tyrannical power on the Earth. Nor could he ever know even in his wildest dreams that his own grandson (author of this article) would write two full books in the mothertongue of that another man (Sir Winston Churchill) in appreciation of the same virtue of him which Mr. Kushal Dan himself had so boldly displayed on the scale of an individual – the work for which he would receive the compliments of American Presidents and British PMs.

2. Highly Trust worthy and unflinchingly loyal : Historically, Charans were known as persons of very high moral integrity whose words could be taken as truth. They believed in being men of their word and always inspired others -- particularly the Rajputs - to be so. Because of their trustworthiness, they were kept as the guardians of the ladies and children of Rajputs -- particularly those killed in wars. Charans treated the ladies of the Rajputs as their own mothers, sisters and daughters, reared up and educated their children as their own. For example, Rao Chunda, the founding father of the Marwar State, had been brought up and educated by a Charan family at a village called Kalau only 10 kms from my native village. Therefore because of their high moral integrity Charans often had direct access to the Raniwas (the palace of Queens) where even other Rajputs were not allowed. Any Charan whatever his age , young or old, was invariably addressed by Rajput ladies and gents alike as "Baaji Sa" which meant "Grandfather Sir". It was not for joke that even a young boy was addressed by the older Rajputs with this epithet. It was purely out of respect for the entire community in recognition of their services as described above. I myself have had the honour to be addressed by many a Thakurs (Lords) and Army officers of Rajput caste through this word, though I openly admit that I had never done anything worth commanding the respect inherent in this epithet of address. The loyalty of Charans to their friends and masters is legandary: King Man Singh of Jodhpur once had all his lieutenants or loyalists had desert him except 17 men who placed at his disposal whatever possessions they had -- including the ornaments of their wives -- and were ready to give anything he needed including their lives for him. All these 17 persons were Charans. The King’s good days came back. The King by his practical experience openly declared Charans in four major respects ABOVE Rajputs – Intelligence, knowledge, open heartedness, and religious disciplines. A couplet composed by the learned King Man Singh to this effect is regularly recited even now at all the marriage-ceremonies of the Charans. He profusely rewarded the Charans and never forgot them. The Charans on their part never forgot the King for according the high honours that he did. His words of poetry are recited with a great pride even today as a rich tribute to the King at many a gatherings of Charans.

Learned scholars, great orators and heroic poets : The entire community of Charans -- particularly in North West India -- is known as ‘poet – community’. Many Rajputs address them with the mere title – Kaviraj – which means ‘Poet king’. In the so called good old days Charans were the community who through their extraordinary mastery of the local language were the source of entertainment of the masses as well as the ruling masters. They were the living radio/TV. In whichever village a classical Charan came, people would gather in hordes and listen to his infinite unending stories of heroism, sorrow and great past for many a whole nights together. Poetry used to be an essential part of his delivery. Kings and Lords used to reward Charans for their learned expressions and used to keep them as Advisors.

I myself had the experience of listening to such Charans during my childhood and boyhood days. Their rich expressions used to keep the audience spell bound, never getting bored, or tiring or retiring before later half of the nights. The audience invariably requested the Charans -- who were considered specialists in stories of gallantry and heroic poetry -- to extend their stay.. Charans recited the poetry of other poets besides reciting their own. Inspired by such Charans years back, I once made a small effort of reciting the story of Maharana Pratap Singh the King of Mewar (Udaipur) at the time of Emperor Akbar the Great and the running commentary of the Battle of Haldighati, among the Police and Armed Constabulary Forces and at a few renowned schools -- including the one established by Sir Pratap a famous friend of Mr. Winston Churchill. Yet I do not hesitate to admit that my own expressions were/are just nothing compared to those great Charans who once used to enrich this land and people by their master expressions in the local language.

In view of the vast knowledge and command of the words of the local tongue many of the Charans were considered "walking dictionaries." In fact, one of them -- my distant uncle Mr. Sita Ram Lalas -- produced a written dictionary; the first ever dictionary of the local Rajasthani language. This dictionary -- which contained not only the meanings but the origin, synonyms, idioms and phrases based upon each word, and is considered to be one of the greatest works on any language in the whole world -- was the life's work of the late Mr. Lalas, who had spent nearly four decades writing it and who was complimented by then Prime Minister – Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri and suitably awarded by the President of India with the title of "Padam Shri", besides begging many other honours to his credit.

Another of my distant relatives, the late Mr. Sanwal Dan Ujwal, a Charan from a neighbouring village, while commissioner of Udaipur division had a rare honour of registering his star presence at a dinner hosted by her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth of

England and her husband Prince Philip when they visited India in the fifties. As the legend goes, impressed by his conversation on the previous day, the Queen and the Duke had invited him to dine at the same table with them, and conversed with the master linguist far longer than the protocol. They were highly impressed by the way he spoke the English language. At the end the Prince asked Mr. Ujwal whether he had studied at Oxford or Cambridge. His reply was simple: "Sir, I have never been to England." Mr. Ujwal himself, a well read and learned man, once described to me the Charans of the good old days as ‘King makers’ and "Infusers of life into dead bodies". Incidentally, he was a great admirer of Sir Winston Churchill – so much so that he had, interestingly, become a regular consumer of whisky and chain-smoker upto the end of his life. This was a bonus addition to a bulldog facial and physical features resembling those of Sir Winston.

Late Mr. Nathu Singh (Dan) Mahiyariya, a Charan "poetking" of Udaipur and a writer of many books full of poetry, once had the unique honour of accompanying the first President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad – himself, a great admirer of Maharana Pratap Singh (a rival of Emperor Akbar the great ) -- to the site of Battle of Haldighati (fought between the forces of Akbar and Maharana Pratap ) and later to be his personal guest of honour at Rastryapati Bhavan (the Presidential Palace) at New Delhi for a few days.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was a great scholar and learned man. While at Haldighati he had asked Mr. Nathu Singh Mahiyaria to comment over the shaking of hands between the then (20^th century) King of Jaipur, Man Singh, and Maharana (King) Bhagwat Singh of Udaipur. The Poetking Nathu Singh Mahiyaria had made a comment in a typical Charan style in the form of a poetic couplet: "It is alright Man Singh and Bhagwat Singh are shaking hands. It is a transaction of no profit and no loss. But if Man Singh – the 16^th Century King of Jaipur (then Amber) at the time of Emperor Akbar and Pratap Singh – the then Maharana – the King of Udaipur had shaken hands, it would have shaken the foundations of Moghal Empire in India".

Swami Krishnanand was a prominent religious leader of Mauritius (An island country in the Indian Ocean) who died at the age of 92 years in 1992. He was a Charan by birth and his real name before becoming a saffron clothed saint was Mr. Devi Dan Ratnu. Swami Krishnanand had his field of work – the service of the suffering humans in 70 countries including India, Nepal, Britain, U.S.A, France, Spain, Zambia, Canada etc. spread over all the continents of the globe except Antartica . In 1992 on the occasion of Independence Day Anniversary Celebrations, Mauritius Govt. had invited two personalities from India. One was Mr. Narasimha Rao the Prime Minister and the other was Swami Krishnanand, who at the time was busy in India in his mission of human service. Swami Krishnanand alias Mr. Devi Dan Ratnu was a very brilliant and couragious person besides being a highly educated and learned man. He had a typical attraction for politics and politicians right from the beginning of his life as a young man when he used to be close to the King of Bikaner (a famous Princely State of India) – Maharaja Ganga Singh. In 1960 he had managed to see President John F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington through former Ambassador to India/Nepal Mr. Galbraith-a feat almost impossible for a common man of India at the time . Late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi personally knew him and helped him take hundreds of thousands of copies of Hindu religious scriptures for distribution to people in Mauritius. Late Prime Minister Mr. Ram Gulam of Mauritius and many members of the present cabinet were his disciples. Inspite of being a distant relative of the late Swami, I had the occasion of seeing him for the first time in 1990 just after the fall of Rajiv Gandhi Government. I was surprised to discover the top politicians of the most of the major political parties of India, many of whom were serving and former Union Ministers as well as Chief Ministers of the States, touching his feet. I had the honour of introducing my former boss Mr. Gadhvi (A Union Minister in the cabinet of late Rajiv Gandhi) to the late Swamiji, and was also honored to develop a very close intimacy and to win the confidence of the late Swamiji in a relatively shorter period. Since his introduction he very kindly every time he came to India, and always visited my home to bless me and my children. Incidentally, he was also an admirer of Sir Winston Churchill.

Devotees of Goddess Mothers : There had been in all eighty four daughters of Charans who were considered and accepted as Goddesses -- not only by their own community but by others too during the Ladies’ life-time and even afterwards. The most famous among them were the seven sisters led by the eldest – Mother Awar and their brother Khetal who lived over a thousand years ago. Their temples are found all over the desert of Western Rajasthan, particularly Jaisalmer District and Eastern Sindh province of Pakistan under various names – Ai, Ainath, Awar, Jogmaya, Jagdamba, Nagnech, Doongrech, Temdarai, Bhadriyarai etc. In the Gujarat and Saurashtra region Mother – Khodiyar -- the second of the seven sisters -- is more popular.
Mother Karani lived about 600 years ago. Her life span stretched over 150 years, covering about six or seven generations. She was a very, very important personality in her time; she laid the foundation stones of Forts of Jodhpur and Bikaner, wherein her temples are located even today. She is worshipped as a Goddess not only by the royal families of the above two former Kingdom States but by all other folks. Her most popular temple is situated at a place called Deshnok near Bikaner where she had spent most of her life time. This place is inhabited by descendants of her husband, but not her own decendents. She persuaded her husband to marry another Charan Woman, and never had a physical relationship with him. The temple of Mother Karani at Deshnok is also known as ‘Temple of Rats’ and has been shown on BBC TV several times. Mother Dewal and Raajal were the other prominent among the eighty-four.

Almost all Charans used to be and are staunch believers and devotees of the Goddess Mothers except the author who believes in one God the way the great German Albert Einstein did. As far as I know, in spite of a similarity in ‘bent of mind’ and a bit of common ground of expressions between Charans and Churchill, the latter did not have any idea about the Goddess system of belief nor would he care a damn about it even if he had known. He, however, did believe in God, whom like other human beings he remembered in his nation's time of crisis during the Second World War.
Men of vision, wisdom and thoughts : Because of the foregoing qualities -- their vision, thoughtfulness and wisdom -- Charans served as advisors to the Kings and Lords. Each Lord or King would keep at least one Charan as advisor in his court. Charans often used to be the mediators in the personal or inter-state feuds of the Rajputs. Other communities also respected Charans for their vision, sensibility and wisdom. They settled many disputes through peaceful negotiations, avoiding fights and wars; but they were, at the same time, instrumental in exciting the minds of the martial people -- leading to war and destruction whenever they thought was the hour to defend the native land against the foreign invasion and to defend the honour of their women. This resulted into their being labelled by the other peace-loving communities with precisely the same term for which Churchill was defamed – ‘war monger’. They incited the martial communities for ‘doing their duty’ in fighting a war, for ‘fighting to the finish’, for their vows ‘never to surrender’ and to ‘perish while fighting’ – exactly the same phrases which Churchill had used to exhort his countrymen during the Second World War (with one outstanding exception of ‘victory at all costs’ which Churchill so nicely used but the Charans failed to use in all their history of heroic poetry). However, most of them hardly understood the real concepts of war the way Churchill did. But the sentimental or emotional part they understood very well sometimes, even better than did Churchill. On moral issues they, like Churchill, never compromised whatever the cost might be.

Mr. Bhairav Dan Khet Dan Gadhvi, an advocate at Palanpur city of Gujarat State, rose to be the first ever Charan to share the power at the Centre in democratic India. He served for over four years as the Minister of State for Finance in the Union Cabinet of Late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. Mr. Gadhvi, with the God’s grace, is a living person and is not a legend out of the past. I had the honour of serving Mr. Gadhvi as his Additional Private Secretary during his term as the Union Minister, and I consider him a living example and symbol of the vision, wisdom and thoughtfulness of Charans in the modern times. Incidentally, Mr. B.K.Gadhvi also appreciates the contribution of Sir Winston Churchill for the cause of freedom in the world and maintains his biography and all the volumes of his book-"Second World War" in his small personal library.

I have given the foregoing background not with the aim of flattering myself or my community, but with the honest intention of taking the reader to the border to see why and how a writer with this background developed the perspective to appreciate the great work of Sir Winston Churchill on the world horizon .It is this community background that has helped me to understand the mind, the thoughts, the words, the actions, and the achievement of Sir Winston in a more intimate way than if I had had the background of any other community of India, such as the trading, farming or martial community.

Despite this, I have no hesitation in admitting that many of my tribal brethren accepted undeserving rewards and commissions from their patrons merely on the basis of their forefathers’ past, which has rightly resulted in their being dubbed as "beggars" and "parasites" etc.. But the traces of the glorious past of the community cannot be altogether ignored as long as its daughters would be worshipped as Goddesses by most of the communities in this part of the world, and as long as its sporadic occasional talent continues to bubble up and earn the admiration of its compatriots.

Col. Todd, a ninteenth century British historian, has referred to Charans in his book The Annals of History of Rajputana as ‘Bards’. Incidentally, Charans in many parts of Rajputana (now Rajasthan) are also called "Baraths" and "Barts" in the local language. Yet such a comparison would be only partially correct, as it covers only one of the three major aspects of the standing of Charans for which they are renowned and recognised in this part of the world. The meaning of ‘Bard’ as given in a standard English dictionary is ‘Celtic minstrel who celebrated in song the great deeds of heroes’, a poet. ‘Celtic’ is the name of the race inhabiting the British Isles. It is clear the term ‘Bard’ covers the aspect of Charans being ‘Poets’ and ‘Singers’ in other words their being ‘intellectual’ in nature. However, it fails to point to their being people of great character, intelligence and wisdom deemed worthy of attributes like "Grandfather Sir" and "Goddess Mothers" by all the people of the most of the communities living in the area. This, again, reflects upon their character only. Those who were addressing them with the epithet of ‘Grandfather’ were not ‘fools’ nor had they any intention to ‘fool’ the recipient. Neither was there any need to do so, as the addressers were far more powerful – politically, socially and financially than the addressee. They did so with the honest intention keeping in their minds the major characteristics of Charans. Similarly there were hundreds of thousands of other ladies. But those who were recognised during their life time and ever afterward as Goddesses did bear courage and character above other beings – men and women of their respective times.

Many people in the world say Sir Winston Churchill was good only for war, that he was almost ‘unfit’ for peace-time. But I am convinced beyond any doubt that if Sir Winston had become PM of Britain during the peace time -- say, 5-7 years before the war -- the entire episode and the tragedy of the Second World War could certainly have been averted.

Unlike my ancient compatriots, I have no intention of assigning any supernatural powers to Sir Winston. But I am convinced that Sir Winston Churchill was a man of exceptional gifts in understanding war, and through his singular gifts could bring about and maintain peace in the world. He was a great philosopher, a genius of his own kind and one of the finest human beings, a master of understanding the doctrine of the ‘balance of power’ to maintain peace. As for his oratory, I am convinced that what Sir Winston Churchill had spoken during the war years were not words made out of fever of war or with the intention of creating fervour in the minds of others, but were the castings made for ages, the diamonds dug out from the rich mine of his prosperous mind, the golden and platinum coins containing the quality of enriched uranium. It was the good fortune of the British -- and in fact of humanity as a whole-- that he had worked his way to the top of the British Empire just in time to save the concept of freedom and rescue mankind from an ‘Eternal Bondage’.

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The opinions expressed above are solely the author's. Feedback is encouraged.

Inder Dan Ratnu is a writer from Jaipur, India who has devoted years of study to the life and works of Sir Winston Churchill. He has written two books about the life of the great British Prime Minister: Layman's Questions About Churchill, available online from ebookstand.com and netboundbooks.com, and a novel, Alternative to Churchill: The Eternal Bondage, available in print from Churchillbooks.com.

Mr. Ratnu's second novel, The Ultimate Defence Against Impeachment, is based on the Clinton scandal. It is available online at ebookstand.com and netboundbooks.com.

E-mail Mr. Ratnu at ratnuv@yahoo.com

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