ans 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