to stand security to the amount of many lakhs of rupees. When
rents and property were concerned, the Rajputs preferred a Charan's
bond to that of the wealthiest banker. They also gave security for good
behaviour, called _chalu zamin_, and for personal attendance in court
called _hazar zamin_. The ordinary _traga_ went no farther than a cut
on the arm with the _katar_ or crease; the forearms of those who were
in the habit of becoming security had generally several cuts from the
elbow downwards. The Charans, both men and women, wounded themselves,
committed suicide and murdered their relations with the most complete
self-devotion. In 1812 the Marathas brought a body of troops to impose
a payment on the village of Panchpipla. [303] The Charans resisted the
demand, but finding the Marathas determined to carry their point, after
a remonstrance against paying any kind of revenue as being contrary to
their occupation and principles, they at last cut the throats of ten
young children and threw them at the feet of the Marathas, exclaiming,
'These are our riches and the only payment we can make.' The Charans
were immediately seized and confined in irons at Jambusar."

As was the case with the Bhat and the Brahman, the source of the
Charan's power lay in the widespread fear that a Charan's blood
brought ruin on him who caused the blood to be spilt. It was also
sometimes considered that the Charan was possessed by his deity,
and the caste were known as Deoputra or sons of God, the favourite
dwelling of the guardian spirit.

13. Suicide as a means of revenge.

Such a belief enhanced the guilt attaching to the act of causing
or being responsible for a Charan's death. Suicide from motives of
revenge has been practised in other countries. "Another common form
of suicide which is admired as heroic in China is that committed for
the purpose of taking revenge upon an enemy who is otherwise out of
reach--according to Chinese ideas a most effective mode of revenge,
not only because the law throws the responsibility of the deed on him
who occasioned it, but also because the disembodied soul is supposed
to be better able than the living man to persecute the enemy." [304]
Similarly, among the Hos or Mundas the suicide of young married women
is or was extremely common, and the usual motive was that the girl,
being unhappy in her husband's house, jumped down a well or otherwise
made away with herself in the belief that she would take re