Charan (IAST: Cāraṇ; Sanskrit: चारण; Gujarati: ચારણ; Sindhi: چارڻ; IPA: cɑːrəɳə) is a caste in South Asia natively residing in the Rajasthan and Gujarat states of India, as well as the Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan.
The poems composed about such wars and incidents had two qualities: basic historical truth and vivid, realistic and pictorial descriptions, particularly of heroes, heroic deeds and battles.
The narrative form of Charan poetry goes by various names viz., Rās, Rāsau, Rūpak, Prakās, Chhand, Vilās, Prabandh, Āyan, Sanvād, etc.
[4] Written in Dingal, the various sources, known as bata (vata), khyata, vigata, pidhiavali, and vamsavali, form the most important body of primary data for the study of the medieval period.
[5] Although, for Charans, poetic composition and recitation was only a hereditary 'pastime', subordinate to the primary income producing occupations of military service, agriculture, and horse and cattle trading.
When accepted by them as students, they would receive training in the basics of poetic composition and narration as well as the specialized languages by precept and example, with emphasis on memorization and oral recitation.
Renowned Charan poets of the time were part of the royal courts, attaining the rank of Kaviraja or "court-laureate" and assuming positions of great influence.
[7]As per their administrative and ritual positions, Charans were integral to numerous indigenous courts in the region including Rajputana, Saurashtra, Malwa, Kutch, Sindh, and Gujarat.
[8][9][10][11] By nineteenth century, these formed major and minor bureaucratic lineages which played a significant role in the power struggle and the policy formation in the princely states.
[13] Charans enjoyed intimate relations with the rulers who placed high confidence in them; consequently, they came to play the role of mediators in most of the political matters in the medieval kingdoms prior to British rule.
[22] In the Battle of Haldighati, many of them fought for Mewar including Charans of Sonyana led by Jaisaji and Keshavji Sauda,[23] as well as Ramaji and Kanhaji Sandu, Govardhan and Abhaychand Boksha, Ramdas Dharmawat, etc.
During an ambush by Sultan Qatlu Khan's large army, he, Bika Rathor, and Mahesh Das made a last stand and sacrificed their lives while the rest of the imperial force fled.
[29][30] When Durgadas planned the rescue of Ajit Singh, the Battle of Delhi saw Charan Samdan and Mishan Ratan become martyrs for their homeland in their fight against the Mughals.
Charan Jogidas, Mishan Bharmal, Sarau, Asal Dhanu & Vithu Kanau were the chosen warriors who escorted Prince Akbar to Sambhaji's court.
[8] However, well into the colonial period, Charans continued to perform this long-standing functions of theirs, to serve as witnesses or guarantors in commercial transactions and financial contracts.
[37] They took advantage of their sacred position by assuming the occupation of carriers and traders as they were exempted from the payment of customs duties in Rajputana and the adjacent regions of Malwa and Gujarat in the pre-colonial period.
[49]Exercising their privilege to transport goods between various states with impunity and utilising the large wealth of cattle as pack animals, Charans were able to establish a "virtual monopoly of trade in North-Western India".
In Mallani, Charans were described as "large traders" possessing great privileges as a sacred race being exempted from local dues throughout Marwar.
They traded in various commodities including ivory, coconuts, alum, and dry dates which they take from Kutch while bringing back corn and tobacco from Marwar & Hindustan.
[55] By late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they emerged as major suppliers of goods and weaponry to the warring armies of Mughal, Rajput, and other factions.
Charans were seen as, “great traders...who...paid no dues and in troubled times when plunder was rife...although trading with thousands of rupees worth of property were never molested”.
Documents of princely states like Kota records the names of several Charans as the affluent merchants of the region with their huge caravans trading with markets in western India.
[54] James Tod in the eighteenth century commented on the Kachhela Charans in Mewar who were traders by profession: It was a novel and interesting scene: the manly persons of the Charans, clad in the flowing white robe, with the high loose folded turban inclined on one side, from which the mala, or chaplet, was gracefully suspended; the Naiks, or leaders, with their massive necklaces of gold, with the image of the pitresvaras (the ancestors) depending therefrom, gave the whole an air of opulence and dignity.
[55]Charans were described as "greatest carriers of goods" for delivery in important centres of Malpura, Pali, Sojat, Ajmer, and Bhilwara by acting as escorts(bailers).
[51] Caravans of horses, camels and pack oxen carrying various commodities passed through desolate stretches of desert & forested hills which were always under threat of bandits & dacoits.
[73] Charan men are also known as the sacrosanct guides of camel and pack oxen and caravans through Thar desert and as traders in horses, wool and salts, suppliers of food and weaponry to armies.
[75]Based on regions inhabited and associated culture, there are multiple endogamous sections among the Charans such as Maru (Rajasthan & Sindh), Kachhela (Kutch), Sorathia (Saurashtra), Parajia etc.
[81] Renowned 19th-century scholar, Suryamall in his text of history, Vaṃśa Bhāskara, details another narrative in which Āryamitra, last of the Sūtas and descendent of sage Lomaharshana, does a penance in Himalayas to please Lord Shiva and is rewarded by the epithet of the 'Chāraṇa' after he shepherds the celestial bull, Nandi.
In regions of Gujarat, Charanas traditionally referred to the persons of Rajput, Ahir and Kathi communities as māmā (MoBr) and were in-turn called as bhāṇej (SiSo).
Other occasions where it was suitable to take opium were betrothals, weddings, the birth of a male child, parting of the beard, reconciliations, at visit of a son-in law, after a death, and on festivals such as 'Akhatij'.