Petar Novaković was born somewhere on the present-day border of North Macedonia and Albania, possibly in the village of Leunovo, close to Gostivar.
In all probability he ran away from his native village northwards into Serbia (the Sanjak of Smederevo) and started working as an innkeeper in Belgrade.
During the Austro-Turkish War (1787–91), he joined the Serbian Free Corps, volunteer units made out of local Serbs, where he rose to the rank of captain.
[3] Karadjordje agreed and on September 1 a Serbian delegation made out of Mateja Nenadović, Jovan Protić and Čardaklija started its journey.
When in 1807 Russia decided to militarily help the Serbs, Čardaklija (together with Avram Lukić and Jeremeija Gagić) was sent to the HQ of the Russian expeditionary force which was stationed in Wallachia.
Speech at his funeral was held by his friend, the famous writer Dositej Obradović, at the time minister of education in Serbia.