Note 35 — Volume II.

The Chârans. 9. No account of the Bhâts would be complete without some reference to the Chârans, though they are hardly to be found in this part of India. In Gujarât they are Vaishnavas, and find employment in the Courts of Native Princes or in the families of private gentlemen. Many go from place to place and earn a living by reciting the pedigrees and family achievements of those from whom they ask alms. They wear on their persons a variety of ornaments, such as the earring, necklace, anklets, etc., and by way of arms they carry a sort of sword. They are cultivators and have enough money to lend at interest. There are not a few who stand security for a consideration. They are a warm-blooded and passionate people, as many acts of theirs in past times testify.35 They had, some years ago, a ready way of extorting money, or the fulfilment of a pledge made to them. If a man refused to keep a promise made to them they brought a girl or an old woman of their family to the house of the defaulter and threatened to kill or did actually kill her. Not a century ago the faith placed in the word of a Bhât was perhaps the only way of obtaining the feeling of security necessary to conduct business of any kind. All men, from the prince to the peasant, trusted to the Bhât or Châran that he would keep his word or die. Soon after the advent of the British the use of this intermediary collapsed, and the bad points in his character came into relief; but his good work in past times should not be overlooked. By violent threats to kill some member of their family, the Bhâts for a long time, and up to quite recent times, were able to extort money or the accomplishment of any promise made to them; but the late Mahârâja Khandê Râo enacted a special provision of law to meet these cases of extortion, and put an end to them. The Bhât women are as bold, voluble, and ready in retort as the men. When a Bhât woman passes a male caste-fellow on the road, it is the latter who raises a piece of cloth to his face till the woman is out of sight.