It may be suggested that the Banjaras are derived from the Charan
or Bhat caste of Rajputana. Mr. Cumberlege, whose _Monograph_ on the
caste in Berar is one of the best authorities, states that of the four
divisions existing there the Charans are the most numerous and by
far the most interesting class. [179] In the article on Bhat it has
been explained how the Charans or bards, owing to their readiness
to kill themselves rather than give up the property entrusted to
their care, became the best safe-conduct for the passage of goods
in Rajputana. The name Charan is generally held to mean 'Wanderer,'
and in their capacity of bards the Charans were accustomed to travel
from court to court of the different chiefs in quest of patronage. They
were first protected by their sacred character and afterwards by their
custom of _traga_ or _chandi_, that is, of killing themselves when
attacked and threatening their assailants with the dreaded fate of
being haunted by their ghosts. Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam [180] remarks:
"After Parasurama's dispersion of the Kshatris the Charans accompanied
them in their southward flight. In those troubled times the Charans
took charge of the supplies of the Kshatri forces and so fell to their
present position of cattle-breeders and grain-carriers...." Most of
the Charans are graziers, cattle-sellers and pack-carriers. Colonel
Tod says: [181] "The Charans and Bhats or bards and genealogists are
the chief carriers of these regions (Marwar); their sacred character
overawes the lawless Rajput chief, and even the savage Koli and Bhil
and the plundering Sahrai of the desert dread the anathema of these
singular races, who conduct the caravans through the wildest and
most desolate regions." In another passage Colonel Tod identifies
the Charans and Banjaras [182] as follows: "Murlah is an excellent
township inhabited by a community of Charans of the tribe Cucholia
(Kacheli), who are Bunjarris (carriers) by profession, though poets by
birth. The alliance is a curious one, and would appear incongruous were
not gain the object generally in both cases. It was the sanctity of
their office which converted our _bardais_ (bards) into _bunjarris_,
for their persons being sacred, the immunity extended likewise to
their goods and saved them from all imposts; so that in process of
time they became the free-traders of Rajputana. I was highly gratified
with the reception I received from the community, which collectively
advanced to meet me at some distance from the town. The procession was
headed by the village elders and all the fair Charanis, who, as they
approached, gracefully waved their scarfs over me until I was fairly
made captive by the muses of Murlah! 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; and the _naiques_
or leaders, with their massive necklaces of gold, with the image
of the _pitriswar_ (_manes_) depending therefrom, gave the whole an
air of opulence and dignity. The females were uniformly attired in a
skirt of dark-brown camlet, having a bodice of light-coloured stuff,
with gold ornaments worked into their fine black hair; and all had the
favourite _churis_ or rings of _hathidant_ (elephant's tooth) covering
the arm from the wrist to the elbow, and even above it." A little
later, referring to the same Charan community, Colonel Tod writes:
"The _tanda_ or caravan, consisting of four thousand bullocks, has
been kept up amidst all the evils which have beset this land through
Mughal and Maratha tyranny. The utility of these caravans as general
carriers to conflicting armies and as regular tax-paying subjects has
proved their safeguard, and they were too strong to be pillaged by any
petty marauder, as any one who has seen a Banjari encampment will be
convinced. They encamp in a square, and their grain-bags piled over
each other breast-high, with interstices left for their matchlocks,
make no contemptible fortification. Even the ruthless Turk, Jamshid
Khan, set up a protecting tablet in favour of the Charans of Murlah,
recording their exemption from _dind_ contributions, and that there
should be no increase in duties, with threats to all who should injure
the community. As usual, the sun and moon are appealed to as witnesses
of good faith, and sculptured on the stone. Even the forest Bhil and
mountain Mair have set up their signs of immunity and protection to
the chosen of Hinglaz (tutelary deity); and the figures of a cow and
its _kairi_ (calf) carved in rude relief speak the agreement that
they should not be slain or stolen within the limits of Murlah."
In the above passage the community described by Colonel Tod were
Charans, but he identified them with Banjaras, using the name
alternatively. He mentions their large herds of pack-bullocks, for the
management of which the Charans, who were graziers as well as bards,
would naturally be adapted; the name given to the camp, _tanda_, is
that generally used by the Banjaras; the women wore ivory bangles,
which the Banjara women wear. [183] In commenting on the way in which
the women threw their scarves over him, making him a prisoner, Colonel
Tod remarks: "This community had enjoyed for five hundred years the
privilege of making prisoner any Rana of Mewar who may pass through
Murlah, and keeping him in bondage until he gives them a _got_ or
entertainment. The patriarch (of the village) told me that I was in
jeopardy as the Rana's representative, but not knowing how I might
have relished the joke had it been carried to its conclusion, they
let me escape." Mr. Ball notes a similar custom of the Banjara women
far away in the Bastar State of the Central Provinces: [184] "Today
I passed through another Banjara hamlet, from whence the women and
girls all hurried out in pursuit, and a brazen-faced powerful-looking
lass seized the bridle of my horse as he was being led by the _sais_
in the rear. The _sais_ and _chaprasi_ were both Muhammadans, and
the forward conduct of these females perplexed them not a little,
and the former was fast losing his temper at being thus assaulted by a
woman." Colonel Mackenzie in his account of the Banjara caste remarks:
[185] "It is certain that the Charans, whoever they were, first rose
to the demand which the great armies of northern India, contending
in exhausted countries far from their basis of supply, created,
viz. the want of a fearless and reliable transport service.... The
start which the Charans then acquired they retain among Banjaras to
this day, though in very much diminished splendour and position. As
they themselves relate, they were originally five brethren, Rathor,
Turi, Panwar, Chauhan and Jadon. But fortune particularly smiled on
Bhika Rathor, as his four sons, Mersi, Multasi, Dheda and Khamdar,
great names among the Charans, rose immediately to eminence as
commissariat transporters in the north. And not only under the
Delhi Emperors, but under the Satara, subsequently the Poona Raj,
and the Subahship of the Nizam, did several of their descendants rise
to consideration and power." It thus seems a reasonable hypothesis
that the nucleus of the Banjara caste was constituted by the Charans
or bards of Rajputana. Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam [186] also identifies
the Charans and Banjaras, but I have not been able to find the exact
passage. The following notice [187] by Colonel Tone is of interest
in this connection:
"The vast consumption that attends a Maratha army necessarily
superinduces the idea of great supplies; yet, notwithstanding this,
the native powers never concern themselves about providing for their
forces, and have no idea of a grain and victualling department,
which forms so great an object in a European campaign. The Banias
or grain-sellers in an Indian army have always their servants ahead
of the troops on the line of march, to purchase in the circumjacent
country whatever necessaries are to be disposed of. Articles of
consumption are never wanting in a native camp, though they are
generally twenty-five per cent dearer than in the town bazars;
but independent of this mode of supply the Vanjaris or itinerant
grain-merchants furnish large quantities, which they bring on
bullocks from an immense distance. These are a very peculiar race,
and appear a marked and discriminated people from any other I have
seen in this country. Formerly they were considered so sacred that
they passed in safety in the midst of contending armies; of late,
however, this reverence for their character is much abated and they
have been frequently plundered, particularly by Tipu."
The reference to the sacred character attaching to the Banjaras a
century ago appears to be strong evidence in favour of their derivation
from the Charans. For it could scarcely have been obtained by any body
of commissariat agents coming into India with the Muhammadans. The
fact that the example of disregarding it was first set by a Muhammadan
prince points to the same conclusion.
Mr. Irvine notices the Banjaras with the Mughal armies in similar
terms: [188] "It is by these people that the Indian armies in the
field are fed, and they are never injured by either army. The grain
is taken from them, but invariably paid for. They encamp for safety
every evening in a regular square formed of the bags of grain of
which they construct a breastwork. They and their families are in the
centre, and the oxen are made fast outside. Guards with matchlocks and
spears are placed at the corners, and their dogs do duty as advanced
posts. I have seen them with droves of 5000 bullocks. They do not
move above two miles an hour, as their cattle are allowed to graze
as they proceed on the march."
One may suppose that the Charans having acted as carriers for the
Rajput chiefs and courts, both in time of peace and in their continuous
intestinal feuds, were pressed into service when the Mughal armies
entered Rajputana and passed through it to Gujarat and the Deccan. In
adopting the profession of transport agents for the imperial troops
they may have been amalgamated into a fresh caste with other Hindus and
Muhammadans doing the same work, just as the camp language formed by
the superposition of a Persian vocabulary on to a grammatical basis
of Hindi became Urdu or Hindustani. The readiness of the Charans
to commit suicide rather than give up property committed to their
charge was not, however, copied by the Banjaras, and so far as I am
aware there is no record of men of this caste taking their own lives,
though they had little scruple with those of others.