Chandala

“ It is rather remarkable that this spot, the mouth of the Chidani river, is still called „Untung Jawa" : the prosperity of Java.
Sundal, a prostitute, a whore, a woman of bad fame. This word is occasionally used, though Lonté is more frequent. Chandala, C. 193 and 196, is most likely the etymon of the Sunda and Malay word Sundal. CLOUGH gives at page 193: Chandala is a kind of generic name for a man of the lowest caste, properly an outcast, a mean, low, vile fellow; a sort of mischievous demon-like wretch, one ready to execute any vile or mischievous act. ”

“ Surgeon-Major W. R. Cornish writes,* [1] "characteristic of the Brāhmanical intolerance of the compilers of the code that the origin of the lowest caste of all (the Chandāla) should be ascribed to the intercourse of a Sūdra man and a Brāhman woman, while the union of a Brāhman male with a Sūdra woman is said to have resulted in one of the highest of the mixed classes." By Manu it was laid down that "the abode of the Chandāla and Swapaca must be out of the town. They must not have the use of entire vessels. Their sole wealth must be dogs and asses. ”

“ All pioneers of the spirit have, for a while, the grey and fatalistic mark of the Chandala on their brows: not because they are regarded as Chandala, but because they [Pg 106] themselves feel the terrible chasm which separates them from all that is traditional and honourable. Almost every genius knows the “Catilinarian life” as one of the stages in his development, a feeling of hate, revenge and revolt against everything that exists, that has ceased to evolve.... ”

“ This saintly anarchist, who aroused the people of the abyss, the outcasts and “sinners,” the Chandala of Judaism, to rise in revolt against the established order of things—and in language which, if the Gospels are to be credited, would get him sent to Siberia today—this man was certainly a political criminal, at least in so far as it was possible to be one in so absurdly unpolitical a community. This is what brought him to the cross: the proof thereof is to be found in the inscription that was put upon the cross. ”

“ How comes it that our son, though horn in a royal family, has fallen in love with a girl of the lowest * [11] caste?" Then king Pálaka said, ' Since the heart of our on is thus inclined, it is clear that she is really a girl of another caste, who for some reason or other has fallen among the Mátangas. The minds of the good tell them by inclination or aversion what to do and what to avoid. In illustration of this, queen, listen to the following tale, if you have not already heard it."
Story of the young Chandála who married the daughter of king Prasenajit. ”

“ Mahawanso, ch. xix. p. 116.
2: Ibit., ch. x. p. 66. The Chandala in one of the Jatakas is represented as "one born in the open air, his parents not being possessed of a roof; and as he lies amongst the pots when his mother goes to cut fire-wood, he is suckled by the bitch along with her pups."—HARDY'S Buddhism, ch. iii. p. 80.
Slavery.—The existence of slavery is repeatedly referred to, and in the absence of any specific allusion to its origin in Ceylon, it must be presumed to have been borrowed from India. ”

“ Another passage states: “If some pious king belonging to the Kshatriya or some other caste should defeat the Mlechchhas7 and establish a settlement of the four castes in their territories, and accept the Mlechchhas thus defeated as Chandālas (the most impure caste in ancient Hindu society) [20] as is the case in Aryavarrta, then that country also becomes fit for sacrifice. For no land is impure of itself. A land becomes so only by contact.” ”

“ No one who regarded his duties should hold intercourse with the Chandālas and they should marry only among themselves. By day they might roam about for the purposes of work, but should be distinguished by the badges of the Rāja, and should carry out the corpse of any one who died without kindred. They should always be employed to slay those who by the law were sentenced to be put to death, and they might take the clothes of the slain, their beds and their ornaments. ”

“ The children of the wives from the lower castes are classified according to a scheme invented by one of the kings, and there are more than thirty castes in all. The chandalas have for their vocation the removal of corpses, the execution of criminals, and such impure offices. General duties, common to all castes, are very few. ”

“ In Chānda a number of Kāpewārs are stone-masons, and are considered the most proficient workers at this trade in the locality. Major Lucie Smith, the author of the Chānda Settlement Report of 1869, thought that the ancestors of the caste had been originally brought to Chānda to build the fine walls with ramparts and bastions which stretch for a length of six or seven miles round the town. The caste are sometimes known as Telugu Kunbis. Men may be distinguished by the single dot which is always tattooed on the forehead during their infancy. Men of the Gowāri caste have a similar mark. ”

“ Her father and mother were so proud of her looks that they determined not to marry her to a man of their own caste. They were constantly discussing whom they should choose as a son-in-law; one day they began to consider who were the greatest persons in the world. The old woman was of opinion that there was no one greater than Chando, the Sun God, and suggested that they should marry the girl to him. Her husband agreed and off they set and presented themselves before Chando. Chando asked why they had come. ”

“ The District of Chanda has an area of 10,156 sq. m. Excepting in the extreme west, hills are thickly dotted over the country, sometimes in detached ranges, occasionally in isolated peaks rising sheer out from the plain. Towards the east they increase in height, and form a broad tableland, at places 2000 ft. above sea-level. The Wainganga river flows through the district from north to south, meeting the Wardha river at Seoni, where their streams unite to form the Pranhita. ”

“ So the elephant met its death through sleepiness and the snake through anger and the jackal through greed. This is the answer to the puzzle, but Chando prevented your guessing it, because you unjustly took the poor man’s cow and as a lesson to you that he is lord of all, of the poor and weak as well as of Rajas and Princes.”
When the jackal concluded all present cried out that the answer was a perfect one; but the Raja said “I don’t think much of that; I know a lot of stories like that myself.” However he had to give back the cow and pay twenty-five rupees to the panchayat. ”

“ Chandanaka. I suppose the king doesn't trust me!
Vīraka. Isn't it His Majesty's command?
Chandanaka. [Aside.] If people knew that the good herdsman es- caped in Chārudatta's cart, then the king would make Chārudatta suffer for it. What 's to be done? [Reflecting.] I'll stir up a quarrel the way they do down in the Carnatic. [Aloud.] Well, Vīraka, I made one inspection myself—my name is Chandanaka—and you want to do it over again. Who are you?
Vīraka. Confound it! Who are you, anyway?
Chandanaka. An honorable and highly respectable person, and you don't remember your own family. ”

“ CHANDAUL, s. H. Chaṇḍāl, an outcaste, 'used generally for a man of the lowest and most despised of the mixt tribes' (Williams) ; 'properly one sprung from a Sudra father and Brahman mother' (Wilson) . [The last is the definition of the Āīn (ed. Jarrett, iii. 116) . Dr. Wilson identifies them with the Kandali or Gondali of Ptolemy (Ind. Caste, i. 57) .]
712.—"You have joined those Chandáls and coweaters, and have become one of them."—Chach-Nāmah, in Elliot, i. 193.
[1810.—"Chandela," see quotation under HALALCORE.] ”

“ Dearest little Guru, there would be no battles, if in every battle all were killed. And she said: But thy own father was killed in battle, and one day, it may be thy case also. And Chand said: Who knows? For some fall, on their very first field: and others spend their whole lives on battle-fields, and Death flies from them continually, as if he was afraid of them himself. Or, it may be, he chooses whom he pleases. Then she said: And art thou, then, not afraid, lest he should choose thee?
And Chand looked at her, for a while, in silence. ”

“ In the meanwhile, Chandaka and the horse Kanthaka were slowly returning from the hermitage. As they approached the city, they both hung their heads in dejection. Some horsemen espied them.
"It is Chandaka! It is Kanthaka!" they cried, and they galloped their horses. 'They saw that Chandaka was carrying the prince's jewels. They asked, anxiously:
"Was the prince murdered?"
"No, no," Chandaka quickly replied. "He entrusted me with his jewels that I might return them to his family. He has donned a hermit's robe, and he has entered a forest where dwell some holy men." ”

“ But no sooner had the jewels been placed near his heart than, to his amazement as well as delight, new health and strength were poured into his frame. Nihál Chand’s wound became perfectly healed, and, springing to his feet, he again stood erect, a brave and rejoicing man; a Christian strong to wrestle against Temptation, and overcome it wherever he should meet it again.
And, like Nihál Chand, Tulsí Rám and his much loved wife, Juwalí, the faithful and meek, wore over their hearts for ever the ruby, the pearl, and the diamond, their sins all pardoned, and their lives made pure. ”

“ And after a while she said, as if with incredulity: Have my own ears turned traitors, and is it now, that they are playing me false, or was it then, when, as I thought, I heard thee name thyself King Chand the son of Chand? And Chand said: Nay, but I am actually he. And she laughed scornfully, and exclaimed: Art thou absolutely sure, that thou hast not mistaken thy identity? Can it be, that thou art really Chand? For I have heard, that of all companions in the world, women are those from whom he most desires to escape. ”

“ And so he went on, year by year, until at last, when his son was eighteen, and still unmarried, [5] for his father kept putting off his marriage, saying: What is the need of hurry? a necessary evil is better still deferred: King Chand was suddenly killed, in the field of battle. And he just had time to murmur to his son: Follow in my footsteps: recollect my lessons: guard the kingdom: conquer the regions, and above all, beware of women: when Death took him, as it were, by the throat while he was speaking, and he set out instantly along the Great Road. ”

“ Now I am far away from you, and I weep. What shall become of me, now, for he is gone, he who was my guide? I shall know poverty, for I have lost my treasure. He was my eyes; I can no longer see the light; I am blind. Oh, when will he return, he who was my joy?"
Mahaprajapati saw the jewels Chandaka had brought back with him. She stood looking at them a great while. She was weeping. Then, taking the jewels, she left the palace.
Still weeping, she walked through the garden until she carne to a pool. Once again, she looked at the jewels, then threw them into the water. ”

“ If a woman has an illegitimate child and from fear or shame will not name its father the bastard is called a child of Chando. At its birth there is no assembly of the neighbours; its head is not ceremonially shaved and there is no narta ceremony. The midwife does what is necessary; and the child is admitted into no division of the tribe. If it is a boy it is called Chandu or Chandrai or sometimes Birbanta and if a girl Chandro or Chandmuni or perhaps Bonela. Sometimes after the child is born the mother will under seal of secrecy tell its father’s name to her mother or the midwife ”

“ O King Chand, would thy friends below believe him, were he to fly down and tell them, he had seen thee sitting on a mountain cliff, conversing with a woman! Then said Chand with a sigh: Art thou indeed a woman, and not rather some mountain witch that has destroyed me by a spell? ”

“ Nihál Chand was indeed a very different man from any of his three brothers. He had more wisdom than Mulá Mal, and his acute mind saw at once the folly of bowing down to idols of wood and stone. Nihál Chand was not, like Biharí Lal, inclined to waste precious time in delay, and to give up his whole soul to the cares of this perishing [103] world. And Nihál Chand, unlike Tulsí Rám, had a firm and fearless spirit, and a will as strong as iron. No thorns of Persecution could stay the resolute man ”

“ Vice-Admiral Watson, Colonel Clive, and the Select Committee, came to this final Resolution, in the Beginning of the Month of March, and entered with all the Diligence and Dispatch possible on the necessary Preparations for this important Expedition, well knowing that the French were not ignorant of their own Danger, or at all remiss or careless in providing against it. Chandenagore, the chief of their Settlements in Bengal, was a Place very well situated on the Side of the 45River, Twenty-seven Miles above Calcutta, which is a Branch of the Ganges, at a small distance below Hughley. ”

“ So some historians say that the conspirators against Sirajuddaula must have sought, and gained, his accession to the plot and that it was with his advice that they made overtures to the English; while there are others who do not make him a party to the conspiracy. But the weight of evidence is in favour of the former story; for the writer of the “Memoirs of Khitish Chandra and his Ancestry” says, that it is a common belief in the Raj family of Krishnagar that Clive after the battle of Plassey presented Krishna Chandra with five cannon, in token of his services to the British power ”