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History of Charans edit
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Ancient period (1000 BC-1000 AD) King Nahapana honored the Charans with large amount of land grants around 119 to 128.[11]
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Brahmanand Swami who is one of the most prominent figures for the Swaminarayan Community, was a Ashiya Charan born in Khann village, Sirohi District, Rajasthan. His original name was Ladudanji. Few years earlier Swminarayan community had built Brahmanand Nagari in Khann village.
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(Most of the Charans at this period are criticizers of the Swaminarayan Sampraday as they derespect/not believe in Devi Prakriti (Jagadamba Durga) which controls the whole manifestation of the Universe according to the Hindu Vedas.)
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Medieval period (1000–1800)
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A Charan woman, Maa Barvadi from Gujarat (mother of Baru Sauda, of whom Sauda and Souda Barhat are descendants), helped Rana Hamir; she used her own funds to supply him with 500 horses to use in the recovery of Chittor.[2] After the victory, Rana Hamir gave the title of Barhat to Baruji with 12 villages (including Soniyana, Aantri and Paaner). The Sauda were officially declared Barhat ji for the Sisodia Rajput clan in Mewar.
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Adho Duraso (known as Dursaji) was a medieval poet who was born in Jaitaran, Pali district, Rajasthan in 1538 and died in Panchetiya in 1651. Dursaji is believed to have been a maternal uncle of Karni Mata. Historians remember him for his boldness in singing praises of Maharana Pratap (an archenemy of Akbar) in Akbar's court. A golden statue of Dursaji stands in Mount Abu. Dursaji's niece, Karni Mata is revered as the major deity of Rathod and other communities in this region. She is alleged to have helped Rao Bika (a ruler of Rajasthan) to occupy the territory of Bikaner. Karni Mata's shrine is in Deshnok, near Bikaner.
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There have been many Saudas who have died for Mewar. Jaisa ji Sauda and Keshav ji Sauda fought with Maharana Pratap in the Battle of Haldighati and became martyrs. Naru ji Sauda (worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims) achieved martyrdom at the gate of Jagdish Temple, Udaipur in Udaipur, when Taj Khan and Ruhullah Khan came to destroy it by order of the Muslim emperor Aurangzeb. Two shrines were built for Naru ji Sauda: one (tended by Hindus) where his body fell and the other (a few yards/metres away, and tended by Muslims) where his head fell.[6] Charan Khemraj Dadhiwadia (from the village of Khempur) saved the life of Prince Jagat Singh of Udaipur by killing Naruka Rajput, who attempted to murder the prince.[2]
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G. N. Sharma makes many references to Charans in his book. In the Battle of Haldighati in 1576 between Rana Pratap Singh of Mewar and Raja Man Singh of Amber, general of the Mughal emperor Akbar, the Charan warrior Rama Sandu displayed great valor. In 1615, Narhar Charan fell fighting in the action of Sur Singh against Kishan Singh of Kishangarh. In the field of Dharmat in 1658, Jagmal Khadiya died a valiant warrior. In the battle of Delhi, when Durgadas planned the rescue of Ajit Singh, Charan Sandu and Mishan Ratan were martyrs for the cause of their land.
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Vishal Raba and 11 other Charans fought at Ambardi from 1600–1620 with Gujarat Sultan. Jhaverchand Meghani has noted this act of bravery as Annam Matha ("heads that never bowed"). There are 12 hero stones of Vishal Raba and others who fought with 500–600 soldiers of Gujarat Sultan's army. It has been explained by Jhaverchand Meghani that it is the incident of war which has never happened in history in past, because Vishal Raba and his friends were offered to choose war or bow. They choose war and that too taking the vow to fell in the designated circle made by brahmin after fighting and carrying each part of body with them to that circle. Even Sultan had said it as the inflinching bravery ever seen.
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Thakur Jugta Varnsuraya (commonly known as Jugto Ji Bapji, or "Jugto Ji, the father") was a Thakur of seven villages viz. Kotda, Parlu, Nandiya, Padasala, Motisari, Dharnawas and Jaswantpura. He was born in Kotda village (now in Jalore district). He helped Maharaja Man Singh Rathore of Jodhpur (1803–1843) by providing diplomatic and logistic support while the king was under siege at the fort of Jalore and at war with the state of Marwar. Jugto ji fought alongside Man Singh in the twelve year long siege of Jalore fort.[12] He also taught Man Singh several languages.[13] After the accession to the throne of Marwar, Maharaja Man Singh showed extreme respect and gave privileges to Jugto Ji; this included the village of Padlao (now known as Parlu) along with several other privileges such as khoon Maaf(If a noble Kills anyone he will be exempted from punishment by virtue of this prerogative granted to him by the king) known as Kurabs at that time. Maharaja Man Singh also honoured Jugto Ji Bapji with the rank of Thakur,gave him "Dohri Tazeem" (King would honour the thakur on his arrival and at his departure from the court, by standing up) and Lakh Pasaav. King also built a fort in the village Kotda which can still be seen.The king also dealt with those who misbehaved with Jugto ji.The fort of Ghanerao Thikhana was plundered where Jugto ji was trapped while on a diplomatic mission. The Karamsot Rathors, the rulers of Parlu, were asked to surrender the village where Jugto Ji was denied of water for his horse. After the death of his beloved thakur, the king built a royal chhatri (a special structure built in honour at a funeral site) which can still be seen at the Kaga Shamshan Ghat (a funeral place in Jodhpur). Jugto Ji Bapji was the only Charan in history to have one.Colonel James Tod , a famous British historian, refers Jugto Ji in his book Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, among the thirteen Noble man of Maharaja Man singh.[14] Descendants of Jugto Ji bear the surname Jugtawat. After Jugto Ji, his sons Bher ji and Krit Singh Ji earned fame. Krit Singh ji was a devotee of Lord Rama and build a temple in Parlu village known as Dharam Pura, which can still be seen. This temple provided food and shelter in times of drought etc. Maharaja Man Singh referred Bher Ji as his brother and made him a judge to decide the legal matters of six castes. Bher Ji was given a task to kill prime Minister of Bundi. With two hundred rajput warriors under his command he accomplished the duty and returned to Marwar. These facts have been mentioned in the books "Marwar ri Khyat" (written by state historian of Marwar),"Veer Satsai"(written by Thakur Nathu Singh Mahiyariya) and "Vansh Bhaskar" written by Surya Mal Misan, famous poet of Bundi who criticized the attack for obvious reasons. Varnsuryas never wrote any poems or songs in the entire history. They were granted villages for bravery in wars and sometimes in warlike sports such as lion hunting( Motisari was given to Shivdas in a lion hunt where he killed the beast with bare hands). They worship Khodiyar.
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Valabha Kesariya of Garni in Saurashtra was honoured by Gaekwad in 1830–1840 for his charity. He gave a widow enough for her needs for 20–25 years, as a result of an insult he overheard by a shopkeeper in Vadodara when he was there to sell horses and other goods. He said "Sister, I cannot accept such a insult of a lady by such crooked shopkeepers so keep this amount and jewellery to bring up your child and live life with respect. Even if you need more call me any how. I am Valabha Kesariya of Garni in amreli paragana". (sic) Later her child became Subahdar of Gaekwad, met Valabha Kesariya and bowed to him. Valabha Kesariya helped Gaekwad collect revenue from all the Saurashtra kings.
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Dhanabha Raba from the village of Rabana Samadhiyala, helped his friend Ala Khachar (king of Kundani) in 1850. He was held by Gaekwad for not paying 18,000 Kutch kori for a treaty between them. Ala Khachar was released when Dhanabha paid to save his friend's prestige. Then Ala Khachar was unable to return the money, and he instead gave him three villages: 1) Rabana Samadhiyala, 2) Goraiya, 3) Pipardi near Vinchhiya of Jasdan Taluka. Even today people of the village pay the tribute to Raba and other Charan as their lords [Gam dhani].[2]
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There are recorded gifts of villages given in return for military service; the village of Manaka was awarded to Royal Charan, who organised a mercenary army of Arab soldiers and helped stabilise the nawab of the state.[15]